LI  b  RARY 

OF   THE 

UN1VLR51TY 

or    ILLINOIS 

B 
P366ci 

iRTflWCAl  SflRYEY 


JOHN  MASON  PECK 


AND 


One  Hundred  Years  of 
Home  Missions 

1817—1917 


BY 

AUSTEN  KENNEDY  DE  BLOIS,  D.D.,  LL.  D. 

AND 

LEMUEL   CALL  BARNES,  D.D. 


AMERICAN  BAPTIST  HOME  MISSION  SOCIETY 
New  Yobk 

1917 


GENERAL   CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Prophet  of  the  Prairies 5 

Harvests  of  a  Hundred  Years 113 

Centennial  Data •  •  •  •   ^^^ 

Illustrations 

John  M.  Peck Frontispiece 

Peck's  Home,  Rock  Spring,  111 32 


INTRODUCTION 


^  -  ~ 

^  r  1 1  HE  earliest  Home  Missions  in  this  country  were  conducted 
"X^     _|_      ^y  individuals,  churches  and  associations. 

'^  The  undertaking  by  the  denomination  in  a  larger 

way  is  marked  by  three  events,  ( 1 )  the  organization  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Baptist  Missionary  Society  in  1802,  which  carried  on 
work  in  sixteen  States,  three  Canadian  provinces  and  among 
various  Indian  tribes,  (2)  the  sending  of  John  M.  Peck  and 
James  E.  "Welch  to  the  West  by  the  Triennial  Convention  of  the 
whole  denomiuation  in  1817,  and  (3)  the  organization  of  the 
American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society  in  1832. 

These  were  not  disconnected  events,  but  outstanding  fea- 
tures of  one  vital,  intimate,  genetic  development  during  thirty 
years.  Not  only  in  time  but  also  in  significance  the  commis- 
sioning of  Peck  stood  at  the  center  in  the  period  of  the  genesis 
of  Home  Missions.  Hence  the  centennial  of  this  event  deserves 
careful  attention  by  every  one  who  cares  about  the  coming  of 
;  the  kingdom  of  God  on  our  continent. 

V  We  are  particularly  happy  in  having  as  the  new  biographer 

-^  of  Peck  Dr.  de  Blois,  not  only  because  of  his  power  to  make 
'  ^  accurate  history  live  and  throb  like  romance,  but  also  because 
^.  for  years  he  has  been  in  close  touch  with  the  life  and  work  of 
J.<  Peck,  since  while  President  of  Shurtleff  College  he  wrote  the 
;;;   story  of  "The  Pioneer  School." 

In  the  Appendix  of  "Centennial  Data"  wiU  be  found  a  mine 

of  wealth  never  before  worked.     Many  weeks  of  toil  by  a  spe- 

^-  cialist,  Arthur  Warren  Smith,  put  into  the  hands  of  the  student 

^  great  nuggets  of  fresh  fact  which  may  be  wrought  into  the  coin 

•^  of  the  realm  America  for  Christ. 

L.  C.  Barnes. 


The  Prophet  of  the  Prairies 


A    SKETCH 


OF   THE    LIFE    AND   WORK 

OF 

JOHN     MASON     PECK 


BY 

AUSTEN    KENNEDY    de  BLOIS 


CONTENTS 


(See  Topical  Index  on  Pages  111  and  112) 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Early  Days   9 

II.     Student  Life  and  Appointment  to  the  West 17 

III.  Laying  Foundations   24 

IV.  Pioneering    33 

V.     Trials  of  Faith 43 

VI.     Methods  and  Policies 53 

VII.     Awakening  the  East 59 

VIII.     Creating  New  Agencies  of  Power 64 

IX.     The  Birth  of  the  Home  Mission  Society 71 

X.     A  Strenuous  Career  at  Full  Tide 77 

XL     111  Health  and  an  Expanding  Field 86 

XII.     Serving  the  Publication  Society 93 

XIII.  Quiet  Years— And  the  End 101 

XIV.  The  Man  and  His  Work 108 


NOTE 

THIS  is  the  Centennial  year  of  our  American  Baptist  home 
missionary  enterprise.  In  May,  1817,  the  "Domestic 
Mission"  was  inaugurated,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
old  Triennial  Convention.  It  seemed  appropriate,  therefore,  to 
present  to  the  denomination  at  tliis  time  an  account  of  the  many 
and  varied  labors  of  one  of  our  great  missionary  pioneers,  in  their 
impact  upon  the  expanding  life  of  a  new  civilization. 

In  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Home  Mission  Society 
to  prepare  such  a  memorial  sketch  I  have  been  somewhat  embar- 
rassed by  the  plenitude  of  the  material  at  my  command.  A 
volume  might  be  written  upon  almost  any  one  of  a  dozen  dif- 
ferent phases  of  constructive  activity  which  grew  under  the 
guiding  hand  and  governing  mind  of  that  stalwart  apostle  of 
righteousness,  John  Mason  Peck. 

Besides  unpublished  manuscripts  to  which  I  have  had 
access,  I  have  drawn  upon  the  early  files  of  such  denominational 
journals  as  "The  Baptist  Missionary  Magazine"  and  "The  Lat- 
ter Day  Luminary."  I  am  chiefly  indebted  to  the  Biography, 
written  by  Dr.  Bufus  Babcock,  more  than  fifty  years  ago. 
Although  quite  unattractive  in  style  and  singularly  inaccurate 
at  times  in  matters  of  fact  and  date,  it  contains  a  large  body 
of  information,  and  its  extracts  from  the  letters  and  diaries  of 
Dr.  Peck  are  very  interesting.  Several  of  the  latter  I  have  intro- 
duced into  these  pages. 

Austen  Kennedy  de  Blois. 


The  First  Church,  Boston 
May  25,  1917. 


CHAPTER   I 
Early  Days 

A  REPRESENTATIVE  gathering  of  American  Baptists 
assembled  at  Boston  in  November,  1845.  It  was 
notable  for  several  reasons.  It  was  the  last  meet- 
ing of  the  Triennial  Convention,  which  for  twent}'-eight  years 
had  conducted  the  missionary  work  of  the  denomination,  at 
home  and  abroad.  It  witnessed  the  founding  of  the  Missionary 
Union  as  an  independent  body.  It  marked  the  beginning  of  the 
custom  of  annual  sessions  of  the  great  national  Societies.  It 
was  especially  noteworthy,  however,  on  account  of  the  presence 
of  two  famous  men,  who  represented  vast  spiritual  enterprises. 
Their  vigorous  personalities  imparted  intense  interest  to  the 
deliberations  of  the  body.  The  spirit  of  their  labors  was  familiar 
to  the  Baptist  churches  and  people.  Their  names  were  honored 
then,  as  they  are  to-day,  amongst  all  Baptists  the  world  over. 
One  had  wrought  in  the  Far  East,  one  in  the  Xew  West,  and 
each  with  equal  effectiveness.  One  was  the  foreign  missionary 
pioneer,  Adoniram  Judson,  the  other  the  home  missionary 
pioneer,  John  Mason  Peck.  The  denomination  in  all  its  history 
has  had  no  more  valiant  standard  bearers  than  these  two  men. 
The  man  from  the  "West  took  his  natural  place  of  leader- 
ship in  the  varied  business  of  the  occasion.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  committee  which  framed  the  constitution  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Union.  He  took  active  part  in  the  debate  on  the  ques- 
tion of  its  adoption.  He  was  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  Missions  in  India.  His  personal  pledge  of  one  hundred 
dollars  was  the  first  to  be  made  in  the  long  list  of  subscriptions 
which  resulted  in  the  cancellation  of  the  debt  of  $40,000,  which 
had  crippled  the  energies  of  the  foreign  mission  board.  At 
the  period  in  question  Mr.  Peck  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Publica- 

Page  9 


tion  Society,  but  the  greater  part  of  his  active  life  was  spent  in 
missionary  work  in  Illinois  and  adjacent  states.  There,  for 
nearly  forty  years,  he  wrought  in  the  cause  of  religious,  educa- 
tional, social  and  civic  progress. 

John  ]\Iason  Peck  was  a  son  of  the  soil.  He  was  bom  at 
Litchfield,  Conn.,  on  the  21st  of  October,  1789.  He  be- 
longed to  a  sturdy  farmer-race  of  plain  New  England  stock. 
He  was  the  son  and  only  child  of  Asa  Peck,  and  a  member  of 
the  sixth  generation  in  lineal  descent  from  Paul  Peck,  who  came 
to  America  in  1634  with  Martha,  his  wife.  On  his  father's 
small  farm  John  M.  Peck  spent  his  early  years,  bearing  the 
brunt  of  the  labor  in  everyday  duties,  and  enjoying  the  limited 
opportunities  of  a  common  school  of  inferior  grade  during  a 
portion  of  the  winter  months.  At  the  age  of  eighteeen,  when 
he  himself  began  teaching,  he  was  a  youth  of  positive  personality, 
clear  mind,  high  purpose  and  excellent  commonsense,  but  rather 
startlingly  deficient  in  writing,  spelling  and  the  mastery  of 
grammatical  forms. 

He  turned  at  this  time  to  things  of  the  higher  life;  and, 
like  so  many  men  whose  religious  experience  has  been  definite 
and  profound,  he  could  point  to  the  exact  time  when  he  became 
a  Christian.  It  was  on  the  evening  of  the  15th  of  December, 
1807,  that  he  was  impressed  by  the  exhortations  at  a  revival 
service.  He  saw  himself  as  "a  guilty  sinner,  deserving  God's 
■RTath."  After  a  short  period  of  suffering  and  distress,  he  tells 
us,  "my  burden  became  heavier,  until  the  end  of  the  week,  when 
I  was  delivered,  and  found  a  peace  of  mind  and  a  joy  in  God 
which  I  had  never  felt  before."  From  that  hour  until  the  day 
of  his  death  he  rested  his  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Even  where 
diflficulties  abounded  he  was  seldom  vexed  by  doubts  or  dis- 
couraged by  lapses  into  sin  or  spiritual  apathy. 

This  vivid  experience  of  conversion  opened  a  new  world  to 
his  view.  He  began  at  once  to  seek  opportunities  for  Christian 
service.  Holding  a  lofty  ideal  of  the  dignity  of  the  ministerial 
office  and  regarding  a  full  and  thorough  training  as  a  prerequisite 
to  efficiency  in  that  office,  he  believed  at  first  that  his  place  should 
Page  10 


be  that  of  a  humble  lay  helper  in  the  cause  of  the  kingdom.  So 
he  continued  his  tasks  as  farmer  and  teacher  for  several  years; 
and  devoted  his  spare  hours  to  devotional  exercises  and  religious 
duties.  On  May  8,  1809,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sally  Paine. 
His  bride  was  boru  in  1789  in  Greene  County,  X.  Y.,  but  for 
several  3'ears  she  had  been  living  with  her  grandparents  on  their 
farm  in  Litchfield.  She  had  recently  been  converted  and  both 
husband  and  wife  became  members  of  the  Congregational  church. 
With  the  birth  of  their  first  child  the  matter  of  infant  baptism 
was  brought  home  to  them  in  a  practical  fashion.  Should  they 
oblige  this  unconscious  babe  to  submit  to  the  rite?  Was  such  a 
procedure  justified  by  Scripture?  These  and  similar  serious 
questions  agitated  this  conscientious  young  couple  considerably. 
They  talked  and  prayed  together  concerning  the  matter.  Then 
they  consulted  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  who  sought  faithfully  to 
convince  their  awakened  minds,  but  unavailingly,  so  the  child 
was  never  carried  to  the  font. 

In  the  Spring  of  1811,  Mr.  Peck,  with  his  wife  and  child, 
removed  his  residence  to  Greene  County,  N.  Y.,  near  his  wife's 
early  home.  He  located  at  Big  Hollow  Settlement,  near  the 
village  of  Windham.  The  surroundings  were  quite  primitive. 
There  were  fifteen  or  twenty  small  clearings  on  the  mountain 
side  and  along  the  valley ;  but  otherwise  the  country  was  a  dense 
wilderness  of  gigantic  trees.  Big  Hollow  consisted  of  eight 
families,  which  were  scattered  over  a  territory  covering  a  radius 
of  three  miles. 

The  nearest  Baptist  church  worshiped  in  a  schoolhouse  at 
New  Durham,  on  the  Batavia  Turnpike,  seven  miles  from  Mr. 
Peck's  new  home.  Services  were  held  once  a  month.  Thither 
he  and  his  wife  wended  their  way,  carrying  the  baby  with  them, 
on  a  beautiful  Sabbath  in  August,  1811.  Their  journey  led 
them  by  a  winding  path  over  the  mountain.  They  received  a 
hearty  welcome.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  church,  one  month 
later,  they  offered  themselves  for  church  membership,  and,  after 
submitting  to  quite  a  rigid  examination  on  points  of  doctrine, 
were  baptized  and  received  into  church-fellowship. 

Page  11 


The  young  farmer  was  making  rapid  progress  in  the  matter 
of  religious  decisions,  for  at  the  very  next  meeting  of  the  church, 
in  October,  he  made  public  statement  of  the  fact  that  after  four 
years  of  inner  controversy  and  careful  self-examination  he  was 
ready  to  preach  the  Gospel;  and  asked  the  opinion  of  his  new- 
found friends  with  reference  to  the  matter.  This  was  given  in  a 
vote  to  permit  him  to  "improve  his  gift"  within  the  limits  of  the 
local  church,  until  the  members  should  be  convinced  of  his  call 
to  the  ministry,  and  his  qualifications  for  pastoral  service.  At 
their  request  he  preached  on  the  following  day,  Oct.  13th,  his 
first  sermon,  from  the  text:  "And  he  said  unto  them,  go  ye 
into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature." 
So  at  twenty-two  years  of  age  he  began  that  active  public  min- 
istry which  continued  for  more  than  forty-six  years. 

It  was  always  the  habit  of  this  man  -to  act  energetically. 
Soon  after  he  had  obtained  the  approval  of  his  church  to  exercise 
his  gifts,  he  applied  for  a  regular  license  to  preach,  which  was 
granted.  Then  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  pastorate  at  Catskill, 
N.  Y.,  and  removed  his  residence  to  that  place.  From  the  first 
he  combined  with  his  religious  activities  the  care  of  a  school, 
which  he  opened  and  conducted.  The  school  was  greatly  needed 
in  the  community  and  it  also  provided  him  with  a  means  of 
livelihood.  His  salary  as  pastor  was  an  uncertain  quantity.  It 
consisted  of  the  collections  at  the  regular  services.  Mr.  Peck 
preached  three  times  each  week,  and  the  sum  of  the  three  collec- 
tions averaged  about  one  dollar.  To  be  exact,  at  the  close  of 
his  first  year  of  pastoral  work  he  had  received  as  compensation 
for  his  services  $61.95,  which  included  $18.92  in  gifts  and 
special  contributions. 

It  was  early  in  the  Spring  of  1812  that  he  began  his  min- 
istry at  Catskill.  Before  entering  upon  the  full  duties  of  his 
new  and  twofold  office  he  had  made  a  walking  tour  to  Litchfield, 
the  home  of  his  boyhood.  The  distance  was  182  miles  and  he 
covered  the  ground  in  a  little  more  than  two  weeks,  preaching 
fifteen  times  en  route.  It  was  the  first  of  those  itinerant  jour- 
Page  12 


neys  which  in  future  years  would  carry  liim  far  and  wide  to 
many  humble  settlements,  across  the  prairies  of  the  West. 

His  year  at  Catskill  was  full  of  abounding  Joy.  During 
its  course  he  preached  174  times,  and  ministered  in  multiplied 
ways  to  the  needs  of  the  community.  The  ordinances  of  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  were  to  him  then,  as  always  throughout 
his  life,  seasons  of  peculiar  solemnity  and  inspiration.  On 
June  9,  1813,  he  was  ordained.  Six  months  thereafter  he  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  the  church  in  Amenia,  and  so  entered  upon  a 
sphere  of  larger  influence.  He  undertook  the  new  and  more 
exacting  labors  with  characteristic  enthusiasm. 

The  young  preacher  was  as  greedy  for  knowledge  as  for 
work.  During  the  early  months  of  his  new  pastorate  he  gave 
four  hours  each  day  to  diligent  study  under  the  direction  of 
Principal  Barnes  of  the  Dutchess  Academy  in  Poughkeepsie. 
Here  also,  as  at  Catskill,  he  established  and  conducted  a  school. 
Then  a  chance  meeting  changed  the  current  of  his  life. 

Luther  Eice  was  a  flame  of  fire.  A  man  of  intense  con- 
victions and  fervent  missionary  spirit,  he  possessed  the  power 
of  arousing  other  men  to  thought  and  action  in  the  interests  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Christ.  He  was  alive  to  denominational  oppor- 
tunity in  world-wide  service.  Wherever  he  went  he  awakened 
zeal.  He  appeared  at  the  Warwick  Association  in  June,  1815, 
soon  after  his  return  from  India.  Here  the  young  pastor  at 
Amenia  heard  him  speak  and  was  captivated  by  the  spell  of  his 
glowing  spirit.  The  two  were  kindred  souls.  Peck  took  him 
to  his  own  home  and  their  conferences  resulted  in  a  decision 
which  affected  his  whole  future  career.  By  this  decision  Peck 
was  authorized  to  visit  certain  associations  in  central  New  York 
to  plead  the  cause  of  foreign  missions. 

■  Apart  from  the  intrinsic  importance  of  the  new  enterprise, 
the  advocacy  of  the  larger  issues  of  the  kingdom  was  far  more 
congenial  to  his  nature  than  the  narrower  duties  of  the  local 
church.  Some  men  are  born  to  be  pastors,  some  to  be  teachers, 
some  to  be  founders  and  leaders  of  great  undertakings.  Mr. 
Peck  had  been  pastor  and  teacher;  he  now  sought  eagerly  the 

Page  13 


paths  of  wide  and  productive  missionary  endeavor.  He  set 
forth  almost  immediately  on  his  campaign.  During  the  first 
journey  of  three  weeks  he  rode  on  horseback  440  miles  and 
preached  nineteen  times,  organized  several  auxiliary  missionary 
societies  and  talked  with  everyone  he  met  concerning  the  big 
affairs  of  the  kingdom.  At  the  end  of  the  year  he  resigned  his 
pastorate,  and  three  months  later  he  closed  his  school. 

Plans  involving  his  entire  future  and  vitally  affecting  the 
development  of  our  whole  Baptist  work  in  America  had  been 
maturing  in  his  mind.  At  first,  through  his  direct  association 
with  foreign  missions,  he  dreamed  of  service  in  the  far  East. 
But  his  inclusive  soul  saw  readily,  and  finnly  grasped,  the  con- 
ception of  the  unity  of  the  missionary  enterprise  at  home  and 
abroad,  while  his  conviction  of  the  urgent  need  of  Christianizing 
the  semi-primitive  settlements  of  the  new  West  led  him  to  look 
longingly  in  that  direction.  Indeed,  when  the  first  glow  of 
missionary  purpose  burned  in  his  bosom,  he  thought  of  the 
American  West  rather  than  of  Oriental  lands,  although  here 
also  it  was  news  from  the  foreign  field  which  stirred  his  sym- 
pathies for  the  destitute  sections  of  his  own  country. 

This  earliest  evidence  of  strong  desire  for  strictly  mis- 
sionary activity  appears  in  an  entry  in  his  diary  on  June  25, 
1813,  the  very  month  of  his  ordination.  He  says:  "Eeceived 
the  last  number  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Magazine.  The 
missionary  accounts  from  India  are  very  interesting.  How 
many  thousands  of  the  poor  benighted  heathen  there  are  who 
worship  the  idol  of  Juggernaut  and  adore  the  river  Ganges,  but 
are  ignorant  of  the  way  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ! 
How  can  Christians  in  this  land  of  high  privileges  sit  easy  and 
unconcerned,  without  contributing  out  of  their  abundance  to 
spread  the  gospel  in  distant  pagan  lands!  My  soul  is  grieved 
for  them  in  their  ignorance.  Oh,  how  I  wish  I  was  so  circum- 
stanced in  life  as  that  I  might  be  able  to  bear  the  gospel  into 
some  distant  pagan  lands !  where  it  never  yet  has  shone.  A 
large  part  of  the  American  continent  is  also  involved  in  darkness. 
Yes,  under  the  immediate  Government  of  the  United  States, 
Page  14 


there  is  an  abundant  field  for  missionary  labor.  How  I  should 
rejoice  if  Providence  would  open  a  door  for  my  usefulness  and 
labors  in  this  way !" 

Two  years  and  a  half  later,  at  the  time  of  his  resignation 
of  the  church  at  Amenia,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Rice,  in  which 
he  asked  the  following  crucial  questions :  "Is  it  contemplated  to 
form  a  permanent  mission  Station  in  the  West?  Would  it  be 
best  to  have  schools  connected  with  the  mission?  Is  there  any 
place  in  view  for  the  seat  of  the  mission  ?  What  literary  attain- 
ments would  be  indispensable  for  a  missionary?  Would  it  be 
thought  necessary  for  some  person  to  accompany  you  on  your 
prospective  Western  tour?"  The  replies  were  as  clear-cut  as 
the  questions.  They  were  in  effect  as  follows:  To  the  first, 
an  emphatic  "Yes."  To  the  second,  "Yes."  To  the  third, 
"St.  Louis,  probably."  To  the  fourth,  "A  good  English  educa- 
tion and  as  much  more  as  possible."  To  the  fifth,  "Yes,  if  the 
person  in  question  is  ready  to  offer  himself  as  a  missionary,  and 
go  West  for  life." 

Then  this  good  man,  Luther  Rice,  went  on  to  say :  "I  thank 
you  for  the  freedom  with  which  you  have  described  your  views 
and  impressions  relative  to  personally  engaging  in  the  missionary 
service.  It  gives  me  great  satisfaction,  too,  that  your  views  are 
so  much  incUned  to  the  West.  Not  only  do  I  conceive  it  to  be 
proper  that  a  mission  should  be  established  in  the  West  on  ac- 
count of  the  importance  of  this  region  in  itself,  but  indispen- 
sably necessary  to  satisfy  the  wishes  and  expectations  of  pious 
people  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States.  So  that  by  no  means 
could  I  think  it  best  for  you  to  abstain  from  these  reflections; 
much  less  that  you  ought  to  give  them  up  as  vain  and  hopeless. 
You  have  at  least  shown  yourself  faithful  over  a  few  things,  and 
I  cannot  but  cherish  the  hope  that  the  Head  of  the  Church 
designs  in  his  providence  and  grace  to  make  you  ruler  over 
many  things." 

His  ambitions  now  shaped  themselves  toward  two  definite 
ends;  to  give  his  life  to  missionary  work  in  the  West,  and  to 
spend  a  period  of  time  in  special  preparation  for  the  same.    So 

Page  15 


toward  the  end  of  April,  having  made  provision  for  the  care  of 
his  wife  and  three  children  during  his  absence,  he  journeyed 

to  New  York,  where  he  preached  in  several  Baptist  pulpits  and 
enjoyed  the  company  and  counsel  of  the  pastors,  and  then  on  to 
Philadelphia,  to  begin  his  studies.  He  was  at  this  time  twenty- 
six  years  of  age.  He  was  stalwart  of  body,  vigorous  and  re- 
sourceful of  mind,  keenly  interested  in  men  and  things.  He 
liad  had  five  year's  experience  in  preaching,  and  his  evangelizing 
labors  had  brought  him  in  contact  with  many  of  the  problems 
and  difficulties  of  rural  church  business.  Of  cities  and  city  life 
he  knew  next  to  nothing.  He  was  a  stranger  to  tlie  refinements 
of  culture.  He  had  no  scholastic  privileges.  But  he  was  a 
chosen  vessel  unto  the  Lord.  He  had  communed  with  God  in 
quiet  places.  He  was  prepared  to  give  his  life  in  full  measure 
for  Christ's  sake  to  a  needy  world. 


Page  16 


CHAPTER   II 
Student  Life  and  Appointment  to  the  West 

DE.  W7LLIAM  STAUGHTOX  was  a  noteworthy  figiire  in 
the  religious  life  of  his  time.  He  was  pastor  of  the  famous 
Sanson!  Street  Church  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  preached 
to  several  thousand  people  every  Sunday.  He  was  a  man  of 
importance  in  the  affairs  and  activities  of  the  city.  He  held  a 
foremost  place  in  the  councils  of  the  denomination.  It  was  this 
gifted  man  who  opened  a  theological  seminary  in  his  own  house, 
and  became  himself  its  entire  faculty  of  instruction.  Latin, 
Greek,  and  Hebrew,  homiletics  and  pastoral  theology  and  various 
other  subjects,  including  even  some  of  the  sciences,  were  care- 
fully studied  under  his  guidance  by  young  men  who  were  look- 
ing forward  to  the  ministry, 

Mr.  Peck  had  had  some  correspondence  with  Dr.  Staughton. 
He  had  told  him  the  story  of  his  life.  He  had  expressed  to  him 
his  desire  for  missionary  service  in  the  West.  He  had  stated 
frankly  his  lack  of  the  training  and  attainments  which  he  deemed 
essential  for  competent  leadership  in  a  large  enterprise.  He 
found  in  the  eminent  Philadelphia  minister  a  warm-hearted  and 
interested  friend.  As  a  result  of  this  correspondence  he  was  now 
enrolled  as  a  member  of  Dr.  Staughton's  school.  Five  young 
men  including  Peck  constituted  the  student  group,  and  all  of 
them  boarded  in  their  preceptor's  family.  One  of  these,  James 
E.  Welch,  was  destined  to  be  a  dear  friend  and  co-laborer  during 
future  fruitful  years. 

A  new  world  had  dawned  upon  the  vision  of  the  young  man 
from  the  mountain  settlements.  He  girded  himself  for  the 
opportunity.  Eye  and  brain  and  heart  were  open  and  responsive. 
His  education  proceeded  apace.  He  remained  in  Philadelphia 
for  one  year ;  it  was  a  year  crowded  with  impressions,  reflections. 

Page  11 


disciplines,  energies  and  activities  of  every  helpful  sort.  Though 
he  studied  earnestly  he  took  time  to  respond  to  calls  from  all 
directions.  He  preached  almost  every  Sunday,  and  on  some  week- 
evenings  as  well.  During  the  short  summer  vacation  he  made  a 
successful  evangelistic  tour  through  parts  of  New  Jersey.  He 
gave  missionary  addresses  also  before  churches,  associations  and 
missionary  societies,  and  aided  Mr.  Eice  in  his  work  as  Secretary 
of  the  Foreign  Mission  Board,  whose  headquarters  at  that  time 
were  in  Philadelphia.  At  the  home  of  Dr.  Staughton  he  met 
many  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  the  denomination.  He 
visited  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  city,  then  in  the  course  of 
their  early  development,  and  considered  Avith  thoughtful  thor- 
oughness their  methods  and  aims.  He  talked  with  prisoners  in 
jails  and  with  poor  people  in  the  slums.  All  of  these  experi- 
ences were  vitally  valuable  in  the  years  that  followed. 

Mr.  Peck  was  never  a  popular  pulpit  orator  in  the  usual 
sense  of  that  phrase.  But  he  had  strong  and  clear-cut  convic- 
tions, a  direct  and  vigorous  manner  of  speech,  and  a  natural 
enthusiasm  which  carried  his  audience  along  the  current  of  his 
thought.  There  was  a  ruggedness  and  virility  in  his  preaching 
which  compelled  attention;  so  incessant  calls  were  made  for  his 
services.  A  soul  less  staunchly  built  would  have  been  caught 
and  influenced  by  these  flattering  invitations,  but  he  seems  never 
to  have  felt  any  temptation  to  change  his  plans  and  settle  down 
as  a  pastor  in  the  East.  His  work  lay  definitely  in  the  regions 
beyond  and  his  steady  eye  looked  ever  toward  that  goal. 

In  financial  matters  he  was  considerably  straitened.  After 
a  few  months  of  study  his  own  expenses  and  the  needs  of  his 
family  pressed  hard,  so  that  he  feared  he  would  be  obliged  to 
take  a  church  for  a  year  or  so,  or  open  a  school  in  order  to  secure 
the  necessary  funds.  Hearing  of  his  embarrassments  some 
friends  who  had  become  interested  in  his  welfare,  in  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  raised  in  a  quiet  way  a  sum  of  money  sufficient 
for  the  support  of  his  family  until  the  following  summer.  Re- 
lieved of  his  worries  by  this  unexpected  generosity,  he  continued 
his  studies  with  renewed  zeal. 
Page  18 


He  was  methodical  in  his  habits,  and  singularly  careful  in 
his  use  of  odd  moments  for  secondary  tasks.  This  economy  of 
time,  dominated  by  his  purpose  to  make  all  things  contribute  to 
one  great  end,  enabled  him  to  do,  as  through  life  he  always  did, 
the  work  of  several  ordinary  men.  He  took  short  periods  of 
sleep,  used  moderation  in  his  diet,  wasted  no  precious  hours  on 
small  talk  or  profitless  discussion,  gave  no  room  or  place  to  the 
spirit  of  idleness.  Many  people  work  out  elaborate  programmes 
and  time-tables  for  the  regulation  of  their  duties ;  but  few  follow 
them  consistently.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Mr.  Peck  conscien- 
tiously followed  the  scheme  of  work  which  he  had  outlined  for 
his  own  guidance. 

He  thus  describes  it:  "Rise  in  the  morning  at  6  o'clock. 
Engage  in  private  prayer,  which  I  can  well  do,  as  my  fellow- 
students  will  not  have  risen  at  that  hour.  Then  spend  one  hour 
in  studying  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  with  the  assistance  of  Henry, 
Gill,  Scott,  or  some  other  Judicious  expositor.  Commence  and 
continue  regular  study  till  breakfast,  reviewing  the  Greek  gram- 
mar first.  After  breakfast  pursue  regular  studies  of  the  day, 
except  the  hours  given  to  medical  lectures.  After  dinner  come 
the  recitations,  after  which  miscellaneous  reading  and  writing 
till  tea-time. 

"The  evenings — except  two  each  week  given  to  lectures  on 
osteolog}^ — to  be  devoted  to  studying  the  classics,  to  writing, 
copying,  etc.,  except  some  times  an  hour  or  two  given  to  attend- 
ing public  worship.  Then  give  the  closing  hour,  till  half-past 
ten,  to  such  study  of  the  Scriptures,  as  occupies  the  first  hour 
of  the  morning.  Regular  daily  studies  were:  Monday  and 
Wednesday.  Hebrew  and  Latin;  Tuesday  and  Thursday,  Greek; 
Friday,  natural  philosophy,  use  of  the  globes,  astronomy,  etc.; 
Saturday,  composition  of  sermons,  lectures  on  theology,  and 
systematic  reading." 

The  medical  lectures,  which  Peck  and  his  friend  Welch 
attended,  were  arranged  for  through  the  thoughtfulness  of  Dr. 
Staughton,  who  judged  rightly  that  the  knowledge  thus  gained 
would  be  useful  to  them  in  their  pioneer  work.    As  the  year  of 

Page  19 


study  drew  toward  its  close  these  two  young  men  looked  eagerly 
forward  to  the  meeting  of  the  Triennial  Convention,  which  was 
to  consider  the  momentous  question  of  the  establishment  of  a 
Western  Mission. 

This  Convention  assembled  in  Philadelphia  in  May,  1817. 
It  is  known  historically  as  the  "First  Triennial  Meeting  of  the 
General  Missionarj'  Convention  of  the  Baptist  Denomination  in 
the  United  States."  It  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  notable 
gatherings  in  the  entire  history  of  the  Baptists  in  this  country. 
Twelve  states  were  directly  represented  by  delegates;  others  by 
proxies.  The  early  sessions  were  occupied  with  the  report  of  the 
Foreign  Mission  Board.  Letters  from  the  British  mission  at 
Serampore,  and  from  Judson  and  Hough  in  Burma,  created 
much  interest.  Mr.  Peck  speaks  in  his  diary  of  the  deep  im- 
pression made  upon  his  mind  by  these  letters,  and  goes  on  to 
say:  "Were  it  not  for  some  particular  circumstances  I  should 
think  it  my  duty  to  devote  my  life  to  that  region."  Then  he 
adds :  "The  Board  made  a  report  in  part  in  which  they  express 
the  desire  that  the  Western  mission  be  entered  upon." 

On  Saturday,  the  fourth  day  of  the  meeting,  the  Conven- 
tion went  into  committee  of  the  whole  to  consider  the  question 
of  altering  the  constitution  of  the  Board  in  order  to  make  room 
for  the  estabb'shment  of  a  Mission  in  Western  America.  The 
discussion  issued  in  two  important  conclusions.  It  was  deter- 
mined first,  to  incorporate  with  the  foreign  field  certain  portions 
of  the  American  continent  under  the  name  of  the  "Domestic 
Mission."  It  was  decided  in  the  second  place  to  direct  the  Board 
to  raise  a  fund  for  the  establishment  of  one  or  more  classical 
and  theological  Seminaries  to  educate  missionaries  and  others. 
On  Monday  both  of  these  decisions  were  confirmed  by  the  Con- 
vention in  regular  session.  On  Wednesday  the  body  adjourned 
for  three  years. 

A  fine  spirit  of  harmony  had  prevailed,  and  the  warmth  of 
an  enthusiastic  devotion  had  imparted  inspiration,  yet  all  things 
had  been  done  "decently  and  in  order."  The  conclusions  reached 
were  not  hastily  formed,  on  the  crest  of  a  wave  of  pious  emo- 
Page  20 


tionalism.  They  were  the  natural  outcome,  the  carefully  matured 
result,  of  years  of  thoughtful  consideration  on  the  part  of  a  few 
wise  leaders. 

The  Foreign  Mission  Board  at  once  began  its  efforts  to  carry 
out  in  detail  the  general  directions  which  it  had  received.  Its 
sessions  began  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Con- 
vention. For  two  days  the  discussion  centred  about  the  question : 
What  should  be  the  character  and  scope  of  the  new  Domestic 
Mission?  Conservative  counsels  for  a  time  prevailed.  It  was 
thought  better  to  limit  the  work  to  an  itinerant  mission  amongst 
destitute  churches.  After  two  days  of  debate  Peck  grew  some- 
what discouraged.  He  felt  that  if  such  a  narrow  path  were 
followed  it  would  postpone  indefinitely  the  broad  and  construc- 
tive plan  which  he  had  in  mind.  The  next  day,  however,  the  de- 
cision, was  made  in  favor  of  the  more  statesmanlike  policy. 
Early  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day  Peck  wrote  in  his  diary : 
"How  solemn  the  thought  that  a  few  hours  must  decide  not  only 
with  respect  to  what  I  have  been  pursuing  for  two  years  past, 
but  what  relates  to  my  whole  life  in  the  future." 

At  ten  o'clock,  with  his  friend  Welch,  he  went  before  the 
Board.  At  ten  the  same  evening  he  writes :  "The  long  agony  is 
over.  The  Board  have  accepted  Mr.  Welch  and  myself  as  mis- 
sionaries of  the  New  Missouri  Territory  during  our  and  their 
pleasure;  and  have  appropriated  one  thousand  dollars  to  defray 
our  expenses  in  getting  to  St.  Louis  and  for  the  support  of  the 
Mission.  In  this  I  think  I  see  the  hand  of  God  most  visibly. 
From  this  moment  I  consider  myself  most  sacredly  devoted  to 
the  Mission.    0  Lord,  may  I  live  and  die  in  the  cause !" 

On  the  day  following,  which  was  Sunday,  May  18,  1817, 
Peck  and  Welch  were  publicly  set  apart  for  the  work  of  the 
Western  Mission.  The  exercises  were  held  in  the  spacious  San- 
som  Street  Church.  Dr.  Furman  preached  the  sermon  of  dedi- 
cation from  the  suggestive  Scripture,  "Separate  me  Saul  and 
Barnabas  for  the  work  whereunto  I  have  called  them."  Then 
the  two  young  men  spoke  briefly,  telling  the  story  of  their  call 

Page  21 


to  missiouary  service,  and  their  burning  desire  to  be  used  in  all 
tilings  for  tlie  glory  of  God. 

Dr.  Baldwin  of  Boston  offered  prayer  and  Dr.  Staughton 
very  appropriately  extended  the  hand  of  Christian  fellowship, 
speaking  with  tenderness  and  affection  of  his  interest  in  his  for- 
mer students  and  his  confidence  in  the  spirit  of  their  consecra- 
tion. At  the  close  of  Dr.  Staughton's  address  all  the  ministers 
present  went  forward  and  shook  hands  with  the  candidates,  wish- 
ing them  God-speed.  Then  Eev.  Jesse  Mercer  of  Georgia  ad- 
dressed them,  urging  them  to  "make  full  proof  of  their  ministry" 
in  abundant  service  and  sacrifice. 

This  memorable  meeting  may  well  be  regarded  as  the  formal 
initiation  of  Baptist  Home  Missionary  enterprise  in  America. 
The  splendid  work  of  the  Massachusetts  Baptist  Missionary  So- 
ciety had  been  confined  almost  entirely  to  certain  sections  of 
New  England  and  New  York.  The  decision  to  undertake  the 
evangelization  of  a  vast  extent  of  country  1000  miles  west  of 
the  Atlantic  seaboard  was  certainly  no  less  important  than  the 
sending  of  men  to  India  and  Burma.  The  future  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  the  character  of  its  civilization,  the  quality  of  its 
culture  and  the  nature  and  tone  of  its  entire  moral  development 
depended  upon  the  industry  and  devotion  of  such  men  as  Peck 
and  Welch,    They  were  destined  to  become  empire  builders. 

From  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Peck  went  immediately  to  New 
York,  and  thence  to  Litchfield,  Conn.,  the  home  of  his  father 
where  his  family  had  been  residing.  The  next  two  months  were 
spent  in  the  midst  of  a  multitude  of  duties.  In  the  interest  of 
the  new  Mission  he  visited  Associations,  churches  and  indi- 
viduals, wrote  many  letters  besides  several  articles  for  the  Baptist 
papers,  formed  auxiliary  societies,  and  sought  in  every  way  to 
spread  the  holy  contagion  which  had  seized  his  own  soul.  All 
the  anxious  task  of  direct  preparation  for  the  removal  of  his 
family  to  their  new  and  distant  home  had  also  to  be  carried  to 
completion. 

Finally  all  things  were  ready.  On  the  28th  of  July  a  solemn 
Page  22 


service  was  held  in  the  home  of  his  parents.  The  last  part  of 
the  twentieth  chapter  of  Acts  was  read  by  their  sons,  after  which 
the  members  of  this  little  family  circle  so  soon  to  be  widely 
separated,  knelt  together  in  prayer.  Tender  farewells  were 
spoken.  The  mother  and  father  were  left  once  more  alone, 
while  the  son,  with  his  wife  and  three  little  children,  turned 
their  faces  toward  the  Far  West. 


Page  2S 


CHAPTER   III 
Laying  Foundations 

ONE  may  travel  to-day  from  Connecticut  to  St.  Louis  in  a 
little  more  than  twenty-four  hours,  and  the  journey  is 
made  in  comfort.  A  hundred  years  ago  it  took  Mr. 
Peck  and  his  family  129  days  to  make  the  trip.  They  left  Litch- 
field in  a  one-horse  wagon  on  the  26th  of  July,  and  after  a.  ten 
days'  drive  reached  Philadelphia.  Here  they  were  hospitably  en- 
tertained for  a  week  or  so,  and  Mrs.  Peck  was  introduced  to 
many  of  her  husband's  friends.  They  then  turned  toward  the 
West. 

The  journey  through  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  and  across 
the  Alleghanies  occupied  nearly  a  month,  and  three  weeks  more 
were  sjjcnt  in  Ohio.  On  the  23rd  of  October  they  re-crossed  the 
Ohio  Eiver  into  Kentucky,  where  Mr,  and  Mrs.  Welch  joined 
them.  Still  pushing  westward,  they  crossed  the  Ohio  a  third 
time  on  the  6th  of  November  and  landed  on  the  soil  of  the 
Territory  of  Illinois  at  Shawneetown.  It  was  late  in  the  evening 
when  the  weary  little  company  arrived  at  "this  wretchedly-ap- 
pearing village,"  but  Mr.  Peck  took  time  to  write  in  his  journal 
the  same  night:  "We  are  now  properly  on  missionary  ground, 
which  from  its  location  and  destitute  state  must  surely  be  our 
field." 

Delayed  in  their  onward  course  by  heavy  rains  and  im- 
passable roads  the  missionaries  invited  the  people  of  the  prairie- 
settlement  to  a  religious  service  in  the  house  where  they  lodged. 
Mr.  Peck  preached  to  the  company  which  assembled,  from  Acts, 
13  :26.  It  was  the  beginning  of  his  life-long  labors  for  Illinoio. 
There  were  then  only  a  few  Baptists  scattered  here  and  there  in 
the  sparsely-settled  country.  After  100  years  there  are  140,000 
Baptist  church  members  within  the  boundaries  of  the  State. 
Page  2^ 


On  account  of  the  serious  storms  it  was  decided  that  Mr. 
Peck  aud  his  family  should  take  passage  on  a  small  steamer 
down  the  Ohio,  and  that  their  friends  should  pursue  their  jour- 
ney by  land  when  weather  permitted.  Mr.  Paine,  the  brother-in- 
law  of  Mr.  Peck,  who  had  come  to  Shawneetown  to  meet  him, 
and  had  been  waiting  for  him  there  for  three  weeks,  agreed  to 
drive  his  horse  and  wagon  to  St.  Louis. 

The  trip  from  Shawneetown  to  the  Mississippi  and  then  up 
that  river  to  St.  Louis  occupied  twenty-two  days,  and  cost  the 
family  $25.00  for  food  and  transportation.  Slowness  of  move- 
ment was  due  to  wind  and  rain,  the  many  calls  by  the  way,  and 
the  need  of  caution  in  navigating  the  Mississippi,  for  this  was 
only  the  third  time  that  a  steamer  had  made  its  way  as  far  north 
as  St.  Louis.  During  the  previous  four  months  two  other 
steamers  had  succeeded  in  the  perilous  enterprise.  This  seems 
almost  incredible  in  view  of  the  immense  traffic  of  the  later  years. 
While  the  steamer  was  moored  at  Girardeau,  ]\Ir.  Peck  took  a 
long  walk  on  shore  and  through  fatigue  and  exposure  caught  a 
serious  cold,  which  threatened  pulmonary  trouble.  He  was 
brought  ashore  at  St.  Louis  on  the  first  day  of  December  in  a 
dangerous  physical  condition.  Fortunately  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Welch 
had  arrived  one  week  earlier  and  were  on  hand  to  welcome  and 
assist  them. 

St.  Louis  was  a  small  river  town  over-crowded  with  people. 
There  was  no  hotel  or  boarding-house.  The  only  accommodation 
that  could  be  procured  for  the  sick  man  was  a  single  room,  which 
had  until  then  been  used  as  an  accountant's  office.  It  was  narrow 
quarters.  Here  he  lay  seriously  ill  for  two  months.  With  him 
in  the  same  room,  which  served  for  bedroom,  kitchen,  dining- 
room  and  parlor,  were  his  wife  and  his  three  small  children. 
For  the  rental  of  this  miserable  place  the  charge  was  twelve 
dollars  a  month,  yet  for  nine  months  the  family  were  obliged 
to  live  in  the  midst  of  this  discomfort.  The  prices  for  food  and 
clothing  were  outrageously  high,  a  fact  which  Mr.  Peck  records 
with  conscientious  regret,  since  he  felt  that  his  responsibility  as 

Page  25 


a  missionary  placed  him  "under  sacred  obligations  to  use  an 
economy  bordering  on  parsimony." 

The  population  of  St.  Louis  was  composed  of  three  races 
and  two  classes.  The  races  were  Anglo-American,  French  and 
African.  The  classes  cross-sectioned  this  racial  division.  One 
class  comprised  the  professional  men,  government  officials,  store- 
keepers and  Indian  traders.  They  were  honest  and  respectable 
citizens  but  usually  with  convivial  inclinations,  many  of  them 
spending  their  spare  time  in  drinking  and  gambling.  The  other 
class  was  composed  of  low  and  worthless  fellows,  with  no  regard 
for  God  or  man,  whose  nightly  orgies  were  scenes  of  drunkenness 
and  indecent  revelry.  They  were  blasphemous  infidels,  one  of 
their  favorite  occupations  being  the  mockery  of  Christian  institu- 
tions by  the  profane  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the 
burning  of  Bibles,  accompanied  by  the  shouting  of  prayers  and 
hymns.  Their  frequent  boast  was  that  "the  Sabbath  shall  never 
cross  the  Mississippi,"  so  tliey  made  that  holy  day  the  occasion 
of  roistering  profligacy,  and  treated  with  insult  and  ridicule  those 
who  sought  quiet  or  worship. 

A  part  of  the  French  population,  chiefly  through  custom 
or  a  lingering  respect  for  tradition,  attended  morning  mass  at 
a  Catholic  chapel,  but  these  also  gave  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath 
to  merry-making.  Dr.  Blackburn  of  Tennessee  visited  St.  Louis 
in  the  summer  of  1814,  and  preached  the  first  gospel  sermon  ever 
heard  in  that  village.  Less  than  a  month  before  Mr.  Peck's 
arrival  the  First  Presbyterian  Church — Avhich  was  also  the  first 
Protestant  church — was  founded  with  ten  members. 

In  the  midst  of  an  environment  of  squalor,  confusion,  vice 
and  infidelity,  with  here  and  there  a  ray  of  light  imparted  by  a 
noble  Christian  life,  to  illuminate  the  dense  darkness,  the  mis- 
sionaries began  their  labors  for  Jesus  Christ.  As  soon  as  his 
health  began  to  improve  Mr.  Peck  and  his  co-laborer  went  to 
work  with  a  will.  The  intensity  of  their  zeal  burned  away  many 
barriers. 

At  the  cost  of  fourteen  dollars  a  month  they  rented  a  room, 
fourteen  by  sixteen  feet,  in  the  rear  of  a  store,  and  established 

Page  26 


there  a  school  and  preaching  station.  This  was  the  real  begin- 
ning of  definite  Baptist  enterprise  beyond  the  Mississippi.  In 
February  a  small  church  was  organized.  Their  chief  lay-helper 
was  a  harness-maker,  John  Jacoby,  a  man  of  unwavering  integrity 
and  staunch  character.  Two  months  later,  on  the  fifth  day  of 
April  at  nine  in  the  morning,  two  converts  were  baptized. 

An  immense  crowd  gathered  on  the  banks  of  the  majestic 
Mississippi  to  witness  the  administration  of  the  ordinance.  It 
was  the  first  baptism  ever  seen  in  St.  Louis  or  its  vicinity,  Mr. 
Peck  preached  from  the  deck  of  a  vessel  to  the  multitudes  on 
the  shore  from  the  text :  "When  they  believed  Philip  preaching 
the  things  concerning  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  they  were  baptized,  both  men  and  women."  Two 
Presbyterian  ministers  and  two  Catholic  priests  were  present 
in  the  crowd.  After  the  service  came  the  baptism.  One  of  the 
converts  was  a  colored  man  who  became  at  once  the  assistant 
in  the  Sunday  School  and  an  active  worker  in  the  church. 

Plans  for  the  erection  of  a  church  building  were  already 
under  way,  and  soon  a  sum  of  nearly  $3,000  had  been  secured 
from  the  more  public-spirited  men  of  the  community.  In  June 
the  work  of  building  commenced.  Meanwhile  the  day-school 
was  prospering.  Mr.  Peck  was  giving  a  course  of  popular  lec- 
tures, and  a  Sunday  School  for  the  colored  people  had  grown  to 
a  membership  of  about  100.  As  the  months  went  on,  the  com- 
bined schools  were  given  the  dignified  title  of  "Western  Mission 
Academy."  It  had  three  departments.  The  first  of  these  was 
for  paying  pupils  and  comprised  in  June  an  enrollment  of  forty. 
The  second  was  a  free  school,  limited  to  ten  scholars,  most  of 
whom  were  French  Catholics.  The  tliird  department  was  the 
African  Sunday  School. 

Not  content  with  these  many  and  promising  activities  in 
the  to^vn  itself  the  missionaries  pushed  out  here  and  there, 
preaching  on  Sundays  and  week  days  in  various  destitute  settle- 
ments. It  was  on  the  20th  of  June,  1818,  that  Mr.  Peck  made 
his  first  visit  to  Illinois,  tlie  scene  of  so  many  of  his  future  cam- 
paigns.    He  preached  on  that  occasion  in  the  church  at  Ogle's 

Page  21 


Creek  in  the  Badgely  Settlement.  His  next  visit  took  him  to 
various  places  in  Southern  Illinois,  amongst  them  Kaskaskia, 
where  a  State  Government  was  then  being  organized.  A  charter 
had  recently  been  obtained ;  since,  by  hook  and  crook  and  devious 
diplomatic  manipulations  of  facts  and  figures,  the  territory  had 
been  found  to  contain  40,000  people.  The  northern  portion  of 
the  new  State  was  very  sparsely  settled ;  it  was  considered  desert 
land  and  uninhabitable. 

On  his  trips  to  Illinois  and  Southern  Missouri  Mr.  Peck 
rode  always  on  horseback.  He  soon  learned  to  transform  his 
saddle  into  a  study.  Travelling  for  many  miles  day  after  day 
he  found  that  much  precious  time  was  wasted;  so  he  conceived 
the  idea  of  carrying  a  portion  of  his  library  with  him.  Holding 
a  book  open  before  him  he  would  read  voraciously  as  he  made 
his  way  onward;  and  in  consequence  frequently  missed  his  path 
while  absorbed  in  his  book,  and  was  obliged  to  retrace  his  steps. 

He  entered  into  informal  and  hearty  fellowship  with  people 
of  all  classes  whom  he  met  on  the  roads,  at  the  inns  and  every- 
where. He  himself  always  talked  rapidly  and  with  great  anima- 
tion and  emphasis,  while  he  possessed  also  the  gift  of  extracting 
all  sorts  of  information  from  casual  acquaintances.  He  was 
vibrant  with  vital  energy,  and  his  whole  soul  was  quick  with 
interest  in  the  possibilities  and  opportunities  of  the  country  into 
which  he  had  come. 

Although  entirely  unpracticed  in  the  higher  learning  he 
was  from  the  first  a  powerful  advocate  of  intellectual  training. 
Wherever  he  went  he  made  careful  enquiry  concerning  the  means 
which  were  being  adopted  to  secure  educational  training  for  the 
rising  generation.  He  realized  vividly — the  vision  was  ever  be- 
fore him — that  the  character  of  the  future  civilization  in  this 
vast  region  would  be  determined  not  so  much  by  the  older  settlers 
who  should  move  into  it,  as  by  the  youth  who  were  then  growing 
up  within  its  borders. 

"One  object,"  he  says  himself,  "never  lost  sight  of  in  my 
travels,  was  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  schools;  and  I 
found  at  least  three  quarters  of  all  the  masters  and  schools  were 
Page  28 


public  nuisances,  and  ought  to  have  been  indicted  by  the  Grand 
Jury."  At  all  times  Mr.  Peck  used  his  influence  and  urged  his 
wise  counsel,  in  order  to  substitute  well-trained  young  men  from 
New  England  for  the  "whiskey-drinking  Irishmen,"  with  a  small 
smattering  of  ill-digested  knowledge,  who  at  that  time  had 
almost  a  monopoly  of  the  school-teaching  privileges.  It  is  a 
noble  tribute  to  his  unselfish  spirit,  and  his  entire  lack  of  jealous 
feelings,  that  he  thus  constantly  advocated  the  employment  of 
these  educated  young  men,  who  had  had  in  most  cases  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  training  greatly  superior  to  his  own. 

During  his  first  year  in  the  West  Mr.  Peck  made  long  trips 
through  the  frontier  settlements.  He  delighted  to  come  upon  the 
squatters  and  bear-hunters  in  their  primitive  dwellings,  and  to 
talk  with  them  about  the  country,  their  own  experiences,  and 
religion.  He  associated  with  Indians,  hunters,  woodsmen,  shop- 
keepers, surveyors,  farmers,  and  adventurers,  listening  eagerly 
to  their  life  stories,  and  then  in  his  turn  telling  them  in  simple 
and  homely  words,  the  great  life  story  of  the  Gospel.  He  soon 
grew  familiar  with  hunger  and  cold  and  every  discomfort,  but 
he  welcomed  these  necessary  conditions  of  pioneer  life.  "Eating," 
he  says  very  cheerfully,  "was  not  so  very  important ;  for  any  man 
in  the  vigor  of  life  in  those  days  in  this  frontier  country,  who 
could  not  go  without  food  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  more 
especially  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  ought  to  be  sent  back  where 
he  came  from,  to  the  kind  care  of  his  friends." 

His  directions  for  spending  a  comfortable  night  in  the  open 
are  interesting.  He  says :  "The  first  thing  is  to  select  the  right 
place  in  some  hollow  or  ravine  protected  from  the  wind,  and  if 
possible  behind  some  old  forest  giant  which  the  storms  of  winter 
have  prostrated.  And  then,  reader,  don't  build  your  fire  against 
the  tree,  for  this  is  the  place  for  your  head  and  shoulders  to  lie, 
and  around  which  the  smoke  and  heated  air  may  curl.  Then 
don't  be  so  childish  as  to  lie  on  the  wet  or  cold  frozen  earth, 
without  a  bed.  Gather  a  quantity  of  grass,  leaves,  and  small 
brush,  and  after  you  have  cleared  away  the  snow,  and  provided 
for  protection  from  the  wet  or  cold  earth,  you  may  sleep  com- 

Page  29 


f ortably.  If  you  have  a  piece  of  Jerked  venison,  and  a  bit  of  pone 
with  a  cup  of  water,  3^ou  may  make  out  a  splendid  supper,  pro- 
vided you  think  so,  *for  as  a  man  thinketh,  so  is  he.' " 

Mr.  Peck  believed  thoroughly  in  the  system  of  itinerant 
missionaries  or  "circuit  preaching,"  as  the  most  direct  and  prac- 
tical method  of  supplying  destitute  sections  with  the  word  of  life 
and  strengthening  feeble  churches.  By  various  means  he 
sought  out  capable  men  and  had  them  employed  as  missionary 
evangelists. 

The  preachers  and  missionaries  already  in  the  field  were 
doing  excellent  work  for  the  most  part,  though  of  course  in  a 
rather  small  and  limited  fashion.  They  were  noble  and  un- 
daunted, and  received  voluntary  contributions  from  the  people 
amongst  whom  they  journeyed,  for  their  support.  Some  of 
them,  not  a  large  group  but  at  times  an  uncomfortably  pug- 
nacious one,  were  utterly  opposed  to  the  introduction  of  schools 
and  colleges.  They  were  conscious  of  their  own  deficiencies, 
and  in  presence  of  trained  men  of  wider  view  and  deeper  culture, 
they  felt  keenly  their  own  inferiority.  Mr.  Peck  relates  the  case 
of  one  of  these  ignorant  and  very  narrow-minded  ministers  in 
Sagamore  County,  Illinois,  who  voted  against  a  resolution  to 
allow  any  "foreign"  missionary  to  preach  in  the  churches  of  the 
association.  When  requested  by  a  special  vote  of  the  body  to 
state  the  reason  for  his  objection,  he  replied,  in  naive  though 
honest  words :  "Well,  if  you  must  know.  Brother  Moderator,  you 
know  the  big  trees  in  the  woods  overshadow  the  little  ones;  and 
these  missionaries  will  be  all  great  learned  men,  and  the  people 
will  go  where  they  preach,  and  we  shall  all  be  put  down.  That's 
the  objection." 

These  rather  obtuse  and  obstinate  men  had  a  quartette  of 
special  hatreds  concerning  which  they  raged  without  ceasing. 
They  were  strongly  opposed  to  education,  missions,  a  salaried 
ministry  and  Sunday  Schools.  They  preached  a  crude  and  cruel 
theology.  The  churches  which  they  organized  and  fostered  have 
dwindled  and  died.  They  belonged  to  the  age  of  religious  in- 
tolerance.    They  had  no  sympathy  with  the  broad-visioned  and 

Page  SO 


progressive  movements  of  nineteenth  century  evangelism  and 
spiritual  world-conquest,  which  Mr.  Peck  and  other  big-hearted 
missionaries  represented,  so  their  numbers  and  influence  steadily 
declined,  and  their  activities  bore  no  fruitage. 

One  hunderd  years  is  not  a  lengthy  period,  when  compared 
with  the  innumerable  centuries  of  the  world's  lifetime;  yet  the 
last  hundred  years  have  seen  miraculous  changes  in  the  condi- 
tions of  life  in  the  ]\Iiddle  West  of  America.  The  account  given 
by  Mr.  Peek  of  his  entertainment  in  the  liome  of  a  squatter  family 
illustrates  this  development.  The  section  of  country  of  which 
he  speaks  is  occupied  to-day  by  refined  and  progressive  people. 
The  town,  then  a  sparsely  settled  community,  has  a  railroad, 
daily  papers  from  metropolitan  centres,  paved  streets,  electric 
lights  and  all  tlie  conveniences  and  luxuries  of  our  brilliant  and 
strenuous  latter-day  culture.  Mr.  Peck,  on  his  itinerant  mission, 
rode  for  many  miles  through  a  road  of  timber  over  which  a 
tornado  had  lately  passed,  crushing  all  the  trees  and  throwing 
them  in  every  direction.  He  slept  at  night  in  the  open  air,  on 
a  bed  of  branches  cut  from  the  trees.  The  next  day  before  sun- 
rise, he  mounted  his  horse,  and  followed  a  devious  trail  over  logs 
and  through  dense  brush-wood. 

Bye  and  bye  he  found  the  family  he  was  seeking.  They 
lived  in  a  primitive  log-cabin.  There  was  an  old  man  and  his 
wife,  two  married  daughters  and  their  husbands,  three  or  four 
children  and  an  older  son  and  daughter — a  dozen  or  so,  alto- 
gether, living  by  themselves  in  "the  wilderness."  The  members 
of  this  family  circle  were  quite  oblivious  to  the  duties  and  de- 
mands of  civilization.  None  of  them  could  read;  they  had  no 
use  for  books  or  "any  such  trash."  The  young  folks  looked  with 
undisguised  curiosity  upon  "the  preacher."  The  entire  group 
were  coarse,  free  and  unkempt.  Their  heads,  faces,  hands  and 
clothing  indicated  slothfulness  and  habitual  neglect. 

It  was  about  11  o'clock  when  breakfast  was  served.  There 
was  no  table,  chair  or  any  article  of  furniture  in  the  establish- 
ment. A  box  covered  with  a  cloth  which  was  stained  with  the 
marks  of  much  usage  in  many  capacities,  served  for  a  table. 

Page  31 


Two  or  three  hunting  knives  lay  on  the  box.  The  plates 
were  broken  or  notched.  The  viands  consisted  of  rancid  bacon, 
half-boiled  beans  and  some  buttermilk.  According  to  universal 
custom  the  men  ate  first,  the  women  followed  and  the  youngsters 
and  children  made  up  the  rearguard.  This  was  the  life  and  these 
the  habits  of  hundreds  of  families  that  were  visited  by  the  pioneer 
missionary  John  M.  Peck  in  the  year  1818.  For  many  years 
thereafter  similar  conditions  continued  to  prevail.  Mr.  Peck 
was  frequently  spoken  of  by  the  frontier  people  as  the  "foreign 
missionary."  The  country  was  certainly  remote  enough  to  be 
styled  foreign,  and  many  of  the  people  were  more  heathenish 
than  those  who  dwelt  amongst  Greenland's  icy  mountains  or  on 
India's  coral  strand. 


Page  32 


House  near  Rock  Springs,  Illinois,  built  by  Peck:    First  Location  of 
Shurtleff  College. 


CHAPTER   IV 
Pioneering 

DURING  the  month  of  September,  1818,  Mr.  Peck  travelled 
400  miles  on  horseback.  In  Southeastern  Missouri  and 
the  adjoining  territory  of  Arkansas  there  were  five 
scattered,  struggling  little  Baptist  churches.  They  had  had  the 
hardihood  to  come  together  and  form  an  association.  Their  an- 
nual meeting  was  held  in  September,  and  when  that  month 
arrived,  in  1818,  Mr.  Peck  set  forth  to  visit  them.  Through  a 
misunderstanding  in  regard  to  the  time  and  place  of  meeting, 
he  was  obliged  to  make  two  trips  instead  of  one.  The  first  of 
these  he  took  early  in  the  month,  and  it  carried  him  along  the 
Mississippi  southerly  to  Herculaneum,  then  up  the  Plattin  River 
to  Hazel  Run,  to  Big  River  Settlement,  to  Murphy's  and  Cook's 
Settlements,  to  Main  La  Motte,  St.  Michaels,  the  settlements  on 
St.  Francois  and  finally  to  McCormick's  Settlement.  He  found 
in  Mr.  McCormick  a  congenial  spirit.  He  was  an  Irishman  but 
also  a  Methodist,  an  old  settler  on  the  range,  and  a  man  of  im- 
portance in  that  region  of  country.  He  found  also  a  school,  and 
a  teacher  who  delighted  his  heart. 

Mr.  McCormick  had  a  large  family,  and  an  ambition  to  give 
them  a  good  education.  He  determined  to  have  a  "rale  teacher," 
and  warned  those  to  whom  he  applied  to  send  him  "none  of 
those  whiskey-drinking  Irishmen,  such  as  got  into  our  settle- 
ment last  year,  or  as  sure  as  I'm  a  Methodist  we'll  lynch  him." 
So  Mr.  Bellknapp,  just  from  Connecticut,  was  sent,  and  Mr.  Peck 
expresses  the  satisfaction  he  had  in  visiting  this  excellent  school, 
and  noting  what  progress  the  pupils  were  making.  He  visited 
various  other  schools  during  the  journey,  held  a  conference  with 
a  band  of  Creek  Indians,  and  preached  many  times  in  cabins  and 
log  school  houses. 

Page  33 


On  his  second  trip,  the  latter  part  of  the  month,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  Bethel  Association,  and  though  he  arrived 
on  Saturday  evening  after  sunset,  and  was  an  entire  stranger  to 
the  delegates,  and  excessively  fatigued  from  his  long  ride,  he 
was  prevailed  upon  to  enter  the  pulpit  and  preach.  "Preach 
we  did,"  he  says,  "a  missionary  discourse,  off  hand,  from  Is. 
49,  20." 

The  man  from  St.  Louis  had  come  to  the  Association  with  a 
plan  in  his  head  which  he  and  ]\Ir.  "Welch  had  concocted,  and  the 
following  day  he  proceeded  to  unfold  it.  When  he  was  called 
on  to  speak  upon  the  subject  of  missions  he  presented  a  copy  of 
the  annual  report  of  the  Board,  and  then  enlarged  at  length  on 
the  value  of  missionary  work,  and  the  opportunities  which  were 
opening  for  large  and  successful  undertakings  by  the  denomina- 
tion. He  also  suggested  that  the  Association  through  its  corre- 
sponding secretary  enter  into  correspondence  with  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions.  Then  he  outlined  the  plan  of  a  proposed 
Society  to  embrace  all  Baptist  churches  in  Missouri  and  Illinois 
which  should  desire  to  affiliate  with  it.  He  submitted  for  dis- 
cussion a  carefully  prepared  Constitution.  According  to  its 
provisions  the  objects  of  the  new  society  were  to  be  twofold, 
to  aid  the  Western  Mission  in  spreading  the  gospel  and  in  pro- 
viding common  schools  in  the  western  part  of  America,  both 
amongst  the  whites  and  Indians.  Any  person  of  good  moral 
character  could  become  a  member  on  payment  of  an  annual  fee 
of  five  dollars.  Each  Baptist  Association  contributing  to  tlie 
work  could  send  two  missionaries  to  the  annual  meeting. 

One  of  the  matters  particularly  emphasized  was  the  con- 
sideration of  means  whereby  prospective  school  teachers  and 
ministers  could  be  aided  in  obtaining  an  education.  It  was  not 
the  purpose  of  the  founders  to  use  any  of  the  funds  of  the  society 
to  pay  the  salaries  of  the  teachers  amongst  the  white  settlers. 
This  would  be  done  by  the  local  communities.  But  the  society 
was  to  aid  worthy  young  people  to  prepare  for  the  ministry  or 
for  a  profession ;  and  it  was  also  to  be  on  the  lookout  constantly 
for  good  teachers,  to  import  them  from  the  East,  if  deemed 
Page  SJf 


advisable,  and  to  introduce  them  to  the  schools.  In  other  words, 
it  was  to  combine,  in  this  department  of  its  activity,  the  func- 
tions of  a  Teachers'  Recruiting  Station,  a  Board  of  Education 
and  a  Teachers'  Agency. 

In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  two  visiting  preachers  from 
the  Boone's  Lick  Country,  who  were  anti-mission  and  anti-every- 
thing,  the  Bethel  Association  voted  heartily  to  endorse  the  plan 
embodied  in  the  Constitution  which  had  been  submitted.  It 
was  formally  adopted  by  the  Illionis  Association  on  October  10th, 
and  by  the  Missouri  Association  on  October  34th.  Following  its 
adoption  by  the  latter  body  the  organization  of  the  society  was 
completed;  and,  under  the  vigorous  leadership  of  Mr.  Peck,  it 
began  operation  almost  immediately.  It  was  the  first  society  of 
any  denomination  to  be  organized  west  of  the  Mississippi  for 
philanthropic  or  missionary  purposes. 

It  is  natural  for  ardent  natures  to  dream  dreams.  It  is 
easy  and  fascinating  to  form  plans  and  to  translate  them  into 
constitutions  and  by-laws.  This  new  society  was  a  vision  and  an 
ambition.  Was  it  anything  more?  The  provisions  already  out- 
lined, for  instance,  with  regard  to  the  oversight  of  teachers  and 
the  improvement  of  educational  facilities  sound  impressive,  and 
rather  statesmanlike,  but  were  they  workable?  Distances  were 
great;  facilities  for  travel  were  at  a  minimum;  the  churches 
Avere  poor  and  widely  scattered;  the  preachers  were  ignorant; 
the  sentiment  against  schools  and  education  was  strong;  the 
people  were  occupied  with  the  immediate  tasks  of  clearing  the 
land  and  making  a  livelihood;  all  the  conditions  of  life  were 
primitive;  immorality  was  prevalent  and  religious  indifference 
was  almost  universal.  How  was  the  strong  and  positive  influence 
of  a  new  educational  system  to  be  made  effective  ?  It  is  difficult 
to  say  just  how  it  was  done ;  but  that  it  was  really  accomplished 
is  shown  by  the  facts.  Within  three  years  after  the  formation 
of  the  new  society  more  than  fifty  good  schools  were  established 
in  Missouri  and  Illinois,  where  common  nuisances,  with  drunken, 
illiterate  Irish  Catholics  at  their  head,  had  before  existed.  This 
seems  startling,  almost  inconceivable,  yet  the  fact  stands. 

Page  35 


Wlio  can  estimate  the  value  to  the  growing  settlements,  and 
to  the  enlarging  life  of  this  great  section  of  our  western  country, 
of  the  change  thus  wrought  in  the  conduct  of  the  common 
schools.  It  was  chiefly  due  to  the  tireless  zeal  of  the  master 
mind.  Mr.  Peck  had  gone  to  his  new  field  with  a  single  great 
ideal  in  his  soul :  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  Christian  civilization 
in  the  midst  of  rude  and  unpromising  conditions.  He  brought 
to  his  task  no  subtle  charm  of  person  or  of  manners,  no  brilliancy 
of  intellect,  little  tact  and  no  diplomacy,  but  an  indomitable  will 
and  a  heart  wholly  consecrated  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
welfare  of  his  fellow  men. 

The  diaries  of  this  good  man,  if  set  in  printed  form,  would 
seem  very  monotonous  and  wearisome  to  the  ordinary  reader. 
They  record  long  horseback  tours  amongst  the  churches,  in- 
numerable visits  and  religious  conversations,  sermons,  addresses, 
the  formation  of  local  "auxiliaries"  to  the  new  United  Society 
and  of  "Female  Missionary  Societies,"  the  strengthening  of 
churches  through  wise  counsel  and  a  contagious  vigor  of  spirit, 
the  settling  of  ministers,  the  resolution  of  church  quarrels  and 
difficulties,  the  investigation  of  conditions  in  schools  and  the 
urging  of  better  teachers,  besides  the  conduct  of  an  endless 
correspondence. 

The  very  names  "Adventurers"  and  "Pioneers"  cause  a  thrill 
of  admiration  to  run  through  us.  It  has  been  popularly  supposed 
that  the  settlers  of  a  new  country  are  the  big,  virile,  large- 
visioned  young  men,  who  push  out  from  the  older  communities, 
and  by  virtue  of  their  intense  spirit  and  exceptional  energy 
capture  new  lands,  conquer  the  forest  and  the  wilderness,  and 
mould  a  nation's  destiny.  All  of  this  sounds  well  in  poem  or 
romance,  but  it  is  not  altogether  true  to  fact.  Some  such  strong 
and  victorious  personalities  play  a  leading  part  in  the  govern- 
ment of  every  new  land ;  but  many  of  those  who  emigrate  from 
the  old  centres  of  life,  and  make  the  beginnings  of  a  new  civiliza- 
tion, are  the  listless  ones,  the  failures,  the  lawless  and  degenerate, 
and  the  dull  plodders  whose  sole  ambition  is  to  get  food  for  the 
body  and  shelter  from  the  storm. 

Page  S6 


It  is  a  hard  thing  to  admit  the  fact,  but  it  is  nevertheless 
true  that  great  numbers  of  our  "heroic  pioneers"  and  "fearless, 
big-bodied,  big-brained  adventurers,"  were  in  reality  below  the 
normal  both  in  mentality  and  morality. 

The  following  extract  from  Mr.  Peck^s  "Journal"  brings  to 
our  view  a  discouraging  picture,  but  it  indicates  the  extreme 
difficulty  he  had  ever  before  him,  in  seeking  to  animate  with  a 
lordly  and  victorious  purpose  these  children  of  the  New  West. 
He  is  speaking  of  a  tour  made  in  1818.  "On  Saturday,  November 
•21st,  the  St.  Frangois  church  held  the  monthly  meeting  in  a 
rough  log  cabin  in  the  woods.  The  plan  of  the  'United  Society 
for  the  Spread  of  the  Gospel,'  was  laid  before  the  church.  Elder 
Street  had  the  intelligence,  kindness  of  heart-  and  Christian 
spirit,  to  comprehend  the  plan,  and  engage  heartily  in  the  work. 
Not  another  male  member  of  this  body  of  Christian  professors 
understood  or  cared  about  the  object.  They  were  stupid,  listless, 
and  apparently  indifferent  to  everything. 

"The  people  throughout  these  extreme  frontier  settlements 
were  quite  ignorant;  few  could  read,  and  fewer  families  had 
Bibles.  They  knew  not  the  name  of  a  single  missionary  on 
earth,  and  could  not  comprehend  the  reasons  why  money  should 
be  raised  for  the  expenses,  or  why  ministers  should  leave  their 
own  neighborhood  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  destitute.  They 
manifested  the  same  apathy  in  their  worldly  business.  A  small 
corn  field  and  a  truck  patch  was  the  height  of  their  ambition. 
Venison,  bear  meat  and  hog  meat  dressed  and  cooked  in  the 
most  slovenly  and  filthy  manner,  with  corn  bread  baked  in  form 
of  a  pone,  and  when  cold  as  hard  as  a  bricket,  constituted  their 
provisions.  Coffee  and  tea  were  prohibited  articles  amongst  this 
class;  for  had  they  possessed  the  articles,  not  one  woman  in  ten 
knew  how  to  cook  them.  Not  a  school  had  existed.  A  kind  of 
half-savage  life  appeared  to  be  their  choice.  Doubtless,  in  a 
few  years,  when  the  land  came  into  market,  this  class  of  'squat- 
ters' cleared  out  for  the  frontier  range  in  Arkansas." 

In  the  course  of  his  journeys  amongst  the  people  of  all 
classes,  ]\Ir.  Peck  had  been  constantly  impressed  by  the  absence 

Page  37 


of  Bibles  and  religious  literature.    To  remedy  this  serious  lack 

he  entered  into  correspondence  with  the  American  Bible  Society, 
wliich  resulted  in  a  determination  to  establish  a  branch  of  that 
organization  in  St.  Louis.  This  plan  had  been  attempted  four 
years  before,  but  had  failed.  The  effort  now  was  successful. 
At  a  public  meeting  held  in  the  schoolroom  on  December  9,  1818, 
Mr,  Peek  preached  from  the  text :  "0,  how  I  love  thy  law,  it  is 
my  meditation  all  the  day."  At  the  close  of  the  service  the 
Missouri  Bible  Society  was  duly  organized.  Thus  a  channel  was 
established  by  means  of  which  a  never  ceasing  stream  of  Bibles 
and  Testaments  flowed  out  into  the  great  West.  Through  effi- 
cient oversight  the  new  society  soon  became  a  source  of  definite 
spiritual  strength,  and  its  beneficent  activities  continued  with 
increasing  and  broadening  influence  year  by  year. 

Thus  far  Mr.  Peck's  tours  had  taken  him  to  the  south  and 
southeast  of  St.  Louis,  and  across  the  Great  River  into  southern 
Illinois.  He  now  explored  to  the  northward.  On  December  12, 
1818,  he  set  out  from  home,  and  was  gone  two  months.  He  first 
passed  up  through  the  river  settlements,  preaching  as  he  went, 
in  accordance  with  the  schedule  of  appointments  which  he  had 
drawn  up  before  leaving  St.  Louis,  and  notice  of  which  he  had 
sent  ahead.  The  great  event  of  this  pilgrimage  was  his 
meeting  with  old  Colonel  Daniel  Boone,  in  the  "Boone's  Lick 
Country."  The  Kentucky  pioneer  and  hunter  had  a  room  in 
one  of  a  range  of  log  cabins  where  his  needs  were  carefully  pro- 
vided for  by  some  relatives.  He  was  ruddy  and  fair,  and  ex- 
hibited all  the  simplicity  of  a  child.  Mr.  Peck  had  several  long 
interviews  with  the  patriarch,  who  was  enjoying  a  comfortable 
and  haj)py  old  age.  He  was  then  more  than  80  years  old.  He 
spoke  feelingly  and  solemnly  of  being  a  creature  of  Providence, 
ordained  by  heaven  as  a  pioneer  in  the  wilderness,  a  planter  of 
the  seed-corn  of  civilization. 

From  the  Boone  settlement  Mr.  Peck  pushed  on  for  fifteen 
miles  along  a  bridle-path,  over  hills  and  through  ravines,  to 
his  next  appointment.  The  following  day  he  rose  before  dawn, 
to  meet  a  preaching  engagement  twenty  miles  farther  on  at  12 
Page  38 


o'clock.  There  was  not  a  single  house  on  the  way,  and  very 
poor  trails,  so  tliat  he  lost  his  bearings  and  was  obliged  to  retrace 
his  steps  several  times.  He  reached  his  destination  at  sunset.  To 
his  surprise  and  great  joy  he  found  gathered  a  little  company  who 
had  been  patiently  waiting  since  noon  for  his  coming.  So  he 
preached  to  them  then  and  there,  and  afterwards  had  supper, 
the  first  food  that  he  had  tasted  for  more  than  twenty-four  hours. 

The  next  morning  he  rode  fifteen  miles  to  the  cabin  of  Mr. 
William  Coats,  after  whom  Coats'  prairie  was  named.  Here  a 
small  Baptist  church  had  been  formed  by  Mr.  Welch  the  pre- 
ceding summer.  Prayer-meetings  had  been  kept  up  regularly 
during  the  interim.  Mr.  Coats  had  been  a  Baptist  for  twenty 
years  in  Tennessee.  He  had  moved  to  Illinois  less  than  two 
years  before,  being  at  that  time  the  only  settler  in  the  entire 
district;  but  many  others  had  since  arrived.  Finding  in  this 
man  a  sincere  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  ability  to 
conduct  worship  and  to  speak  in  public,  Mr.  Peck  talked  with 
him  long  and  earnestly  concerning  his  duty,  with  the  result  that 
he  became  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel. 

Continuing  his  journey  to  the  north  and  west,  after  visiting 
various  settlements  and  preaching  whenever  and  wherever  there 
was  a  chance,  he  came  into  a  region  where  the  Indians  had  been 
a  source  of  constant  trouble.  Their  onslaughts  and  depredations 
had  resulted  in  the  murder  of  many  of  the  settlers,  and  the 
country  was  full  of  stories  of  suffering,  peril  and  fighting.  In 
1814  several  companies  of  rangers  had  been  sent  by  Congress  to 
protect  the  people.  Quite  a  number  of  these  moiinted  rangers 
were  killed  in  engagements  with  the  Indians,  but  they  had  at 
last  obtained  the  supremacy  and  brought  to  pass  a  condition 
of  peace. 

It  was  here  that  Mr.  Peck  first  met  Lewis  Williams.  The 
name  of  this  humble  missionary  is  quite  unfamiliar  to  the  Bap- 
tists of  to-day.  It  conveys  no  thought  of  brilliant  deeds  or  great 
material  success.  Yet  this  man  was  a  man  of  unusual  power. 
His  biography,  if  it  were  ever  written,  would  be  very  brief.  It 
would  tell  of  a  young  man  who  went  into  the  wilderness  of 

Page  39 


Missouri  one  hundred  years  ago.  According  to  the  account  of 
Mr.  Peck  he  settled  on  a  quarter  section  of  public  land.  He 
could  hold  this  for  only  a  limited  period  unless  he  should  leave 
the  ministry  and  devote  his  entire  time  to  the  cultivation  of  his 
"claim."  This  he  refused  to  do.  He  was  wholly  consecrated  to 
the  service  of  the  Master.  His  faithfulness  to  Jesus  Christ 
prompted  him  to  go  on  long  and  solitary  journeys.  He  preached 
through  all  the  western  settlements,  to  the  extreme  and  barren 
frontiers.  He  had  one  message,  one  moving  passion;  it  was 
Christ  himself. 

For  many  years  no  missionary  society  aided  him.  He  lived 
"on  the  ragged  edge"  all  his  life.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  and  noble 
nature  and  he  never  appealed  for  help  to  the  people  to  whom 
he  preached,  and  for  whom  he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  everything, 
even  life  itself.  N^o  church  ever  gave  him  a  dollar.  Calls  came 
to  him,  urgent,  insistent,  from  every  direction;  and  he  spent 
himself,  imstintingly,  in  Christ-like  fashion,  for  these  destitute 
people. 

In  commenting  upon  the  life  of  this  man  of  God,  Mr.  Peck 
says  that  the  early  settlers  "made  the  egi'egious  blunder  that,  be- 
cause the  gospel  was  'without  money  and  without  price'  they 
might  take  the  times  and  talents  of  a  minister  of  Christ  for  their 
own  use,  and  rob  him  of  the  means  of  support  due  to  his  own 
family."  Lewis  Williams  was  a  man  of  heavenly  spirit.  It  was 
said  of  him  that  God  was  with  him,  and  scores  of  sinners  were 
converted  under  his  ministry.  He  died  after  a  short  but  severe 
illness,  in  1834. 

Mr,  Peck  was  more  than  a  preacher  and  missionary.  He 
was  a  wise  and  capable  administrator,  and  he  possessed  also  a 
shrewd  knowledge  of  human  nature.  On  his  various  tours  he 
sought  to  leave,  in  every  village  or  settlement  where  there  was 
interest  manifested  or  any  promise  of  future  growth,  an  organ- 
ization of  some  kind,  to  continue  the  work,  and  act  as  a  medium 
of  communication  with  the  outside  religious  world.  In  the  larger 
places  he  formed  branch  Bible  societies  affiliated  with  the  parent 
body.  In  other  localities  he  established  Sunday  Schools,  linking 
Page  40 


these  up  with  the  "Philadelphia  Sunday  and  Adult  School 
Union,"  the  progenitor  of  the  American  Sunday  School  Union. 
The  first  of  these  was  at  Chariton  on  the  Missouri  River.  It  was 
the  first  Sunday  school  in  the  vast  territory  west  of  St.  Louis. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  the  American  Sunday  school  was 
still  in  its  infancy,  the  vision  and  understanding  of  the  pioneer 
missionary  seem  all  the  more  remarkable. 

He  also  organized  "Female  Mite  Societies"  in  many  of  the 
small  Baptist  churches  which  he  visited.  Their  principal  object 
was  to  raise  money  for  the  United  Society  which  he  had  formed 
the  year  before.  All  the  "mites"  were  to  go  toward  the  payment 
of  the  missionaries  who  travelled  and  preached  in  the  more 
destitute  regions.  These  local  societies  were  established  with  a 
full  set  of  officers,  and  held  regular  meetings.  They  not  only 
talked  about  missions  and  prayed  for  missionaries,  but  in  the 
course  of  time  they  took  up  various  forms  of  activity,  so  that  the 
"Female  Mite  Society"  came  to  be  the  most  vigorous  organization 
in  many  a  church  and  many  a  village.  Mr.  Peck  defines  them 
as  "Social  organizations  for  missionary  purposes."  The  first 
three  to  be  established  in  Illinois  bore  the  suggestive  titles  of 
"The  Ogle's  Creek  Female  Mite  Society,"  "Looking-Glass  Prairie 
Female  Mite  Society"  and  "Cantine  Creek  Female  Mite  Society." 
It  was  certainly  far-sighted  policy  thus  definitely  to  enlist  the 
services  of  the  women  in  the  isolated  pioneer  churches,  and  or- 
ganize them  for  practical  effort. 


Page  }i 


CHAPTER   V 
Trials  of  Faith 

THE  spring  of  1819  found  Mr.  Peck  engaged  in  the  busy- 
task  of  removing  his  residence  and  his  family  to  St.  Charles, 
a  village  situated  some  twenty  miles  northeast  of  St.  Louis. 
From  the  moment  of  his  appointment  to  the  western  field  he  had 
cherished  the  conviction  that  the  establishment  of  a  school  of 
high  grade  was  a  necessity  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  the 
missionary  undertaking.  The  "Academy"  which  had  been  started 
in  St.  Louis  more  than  a  year  before  did  not  meet  the  need. 
The  exorbitant  rentals,  the  high  cost  of  food,  the  pressure  of 
alien  influences  and  the  evil  and  depressing  character  of  the 
environment  rendered  the  plan  for  a  permanent  school  in  St. 
Louis  impracticable.  So  the  choice  was  made  in  favor  of 
St.  Charles,  which  was  near  enough  to  the  larger  town  to  enjoy 
its  advantages,  and  far  enough  away  to  escape  its  drawbacks. 
The  school  at  St.  Louis  was  also  continued  but  it  furnished  only 
an  elementary  training  in  the  common  English  branches. 

Eev.  James  Craig  had  moved  from  Ohio  to  St.  Charles  a 
year  or  two  before  and  had  opened  an  institution  of  somewhat 
higher  grade  than  the  ordinary  district  school.  This  he  was 
willing  to  hand  over  to  the  company  of  men  who  should  con- 
stitute the  governing  body  of  the  new  Seminary  and  boarding- 
school  which  it  was  proposed  to  establish.  On  the  8th  of  April 
Mr.  Peck  took  up  the  work  at  his  new  location,  while  his 
former  colleague  continued  the  various  activities  which  had  been 
set  in  motion  in  St.  Louis.  The  new  school  was  named  "St. 
Charles  Academy"  and  was  conducted  jointly  by  Peck  and  Craig. 
The  number  of  pupils  soon  increased  to  forty. 

Mr.  Peck  was  a  preacher,  a  traveller,  a  missionary,  an 
executive;  but  he  disliked  the  confinement  and  routine  of  the 
Page  42 


classroom.  In  speaking  of  tliis  period  in  his  life,  he  says: 
"Attendance  in  school,  domestic  affairs,  and  cultivating  a  gar- 
den kept  me  busily  employed,  and  in  a  state  of  mind  that  was  a 
poor  qualification  for  a  preacher  of  Christ."  And  again : 
"Teaching  school  is  no  more  a  Gospel  service  than  plowing  corn." 

After  a  few  months  the  fact  became  evident  that  Mr.  Craig 
was  a  failure,  both  as  a  teacher  and  as  a  man.  He  was  inter- 
esting and  affable,  so  that  he  won  his  way  with  many  people ;  but 
it  was  found  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  shady  transactions  in 
other  parts  of  the  country  and  was  thoroughly  unreliable.  This 
fact,  together  with  the  expense  of  sustaining  the  scliool,  and  the 
very  limited  income  from  student-fees,  wrought  havoc  with  the 
plans  of  the  principal.  His  own  dislike  of  classroom  routine 
may  also  have  had  a  part  in  the  result.  The  determining  factor, 
however,  wliich  led  to  the  closing  of  the  institution,  was  the 
radical  action  of  the  Missionary  Board  at  Philadelphia.  This 
action  involved  drastic  measures,  and  put  an  end  to  the  Western 
Mission  as  an  organization. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Triennial  Convention  in  1820,  its  first 
session  since  the  appointment  of  the  two  missionaries,  their  work 
was  abruptly  terminated  by  official  decree.  The  reasons  given 
were  three  in  number ;  the  lack  of  ample  funds  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  work,  the  expectation  that  the  whole  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  would  soon  be  supplied  with  plenty  of  religion  by  the  im- 
migration of  preachers  from  the  Middle  and  Eastern  States, 
and  the  opposition  in  the  "West  to  the  method  followed  by  the 
missionaries.  These  reasons,  or  excuses,  were  all  superficial  and 
unreasonable. 

The  pages  of  the  "Baptist  Missionary  Magazine,"  and  other 
records  and  reports,  show  that  the  Board  in  Philadelphia  was 
intensely  interested  in  the  development  of  the  foreign  missionary 
work  in  Burma  and  in  the  founding  of  Columbian  College  in 
Washington,  D.  C.  Between  these  two  fascinating  interests  the 
Western  Mission  fell  to  the  ground.  In  the  Magazine,  during 
1819  and  1820  there  appear  97  articles  concerning  foreign  mis- 
sions and  letters  from  foreign  missionaries.    Ardent  appeals  are 

Page  J,S 


made  for  work  in  Russia,  Jerusalem  and  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
This  was  all  very  romantic  and  certainly  very  creditable.  But, 
although  the  Magazine  claimed  to  be  equally  interested  in  mis- 
sions everywhere,  the  limit  of  vision  for  this  continent  seems  to 
have  been  the  Ohio  River.  Four  articles  concerning  the  Western 
Indians  appear,  also  three  letters  from  Mr.  Peck  and  two  from 
Mr.  Welch,  and  that  is  all. 

The  statement  that  funds  were  lacking  was  no  doubt  true. 
No  active  and  vigorous  campaign  for  funds  had  been  carried  on 
or  even  commenced.  The  assertion  that  ministers  were  moving 
into  the  West  was  startlingly  false.  Only  one  Baptist  preacher 
had  emigrated  to  Missouri,  within  one  hundred  miles  from  St. 
Louis,  in  two  years ;  and  not  more  than  two  or  three  into  Illinois. 
Great  multitudes  of  people  were  turning  toward  that  new  land, 
alarmingly  destitute  of  every  vestige  of  religious  life  or  char- 
acter, but  the  preachers  were  not  among  them.  The  third  reason 
given,  that  there  was  "opposition"  to  the  missionaries,  sprang 
from  the  fact  that  they  had  settled  in  St.  Louis  and  established 
a  church  and  a  school  there,  instead  of  plunging  into  the  wilder- 
ness and  converting  the  Indians. 

Again  and  again  the  two  principal  leaders  of  the  work  had 
sought  to  show  the  Board  that  however  important  the  task  of 
teaching  the  Indians  might  be,  the  necessity  of  establishing  a 
strong  religious  purpose  amongst  the  white  settlers,  the  makers 
and  moulders  of  the  life  of  the  future,  was  infinitely  more  urgent. 
It  was  all  of  no  avail.  St.  Louis  was  not  far  enough  away  from 
Philadelphia  to  appeal  to  the  imagination,  as  India  and  Burma 
did.  It  was  not  near  enough  to  be  made  the  subject  of  personal 
investigation  on  the  part  of  members  of  the  Board,  as  was  done 
in  the  case  of  destitute  sections  in  Maine  and  Virginia. 

The  Board  failed  utterly  to  visualize  the  deplorable  need 
and  the  limitless  opportunity  in  the  rapidly  growing  sections  of 
the  New  West. 

That  the  missionaries  were  to  be  censured  for  settling  in 
St.  Louis  seems  ridiculously  unfair,  when  we  consider  the  in- 
cessant efforts  made  by  them  through  the  use  of  every  possible 
Page  U 


agency  of  helpfulness,  to  reach  the  vast  region  lying  within  a 
radius  of  one  hundred  miles  of  St.  Louis  in  every  direction. 
Their  long  missionary  tours,  their  exhausting  labors,  their  or- 
ganization of  churches  and  Sunday  Schools,  their  cheerful 
endurance  of  all  the  hardships  of  frontier  life,  constitute  a  tre- 
mendous answer  to  the  implication  that  they  were  living  an 
easy  pastoral  life  in  the  towu.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  while 
some  critics  were  complaining  because  they  stayed  in  St.  Louis 
when  they  should  have  gone  out  amongst  the  Indians,  others 
complained  that  they  neglected  the  vital  needs  at  the  centre  and 
spent  all  their  time  in  pioneering  through  the  settlements. 

When  news  of  the  action  of  the  Board  reached  Mr.  Peck  he 
was  lying  at  the  point  of  death,  ill  with  billions  fever  in  almost  a 
malignant  form.  He  recovered  slowly,  but  it  was  long  before 
full  health  returned.  The  death  of  his  brother-in-law,  Mr. 
Paine,  to  whom  he  was  deeply  attached,  occurred  at  this  time. 
His  two  young  children  were  seriously  ill;  and,  the  greatest 
affliction  of  all,  his  eldest  son,  in  whom  were  centered  many  fond 
hopes,  was  smitten  with  sickness  and  died.  Thus,  with  no  money, 
^nth  heavy  financial  burdens,  weak  and  ailing,  stricken  and  in 
great  sorrow  of  heart,  his  position  taken  from  him  with  cruel 
suddenness,  his  school  a  failure  and  the  mission  which  he  loved 
better  than  his  life  closed  and  abandoned,  his  situation  was  des- 
perate in  the  extreme. 

The  Board  had  desired  him  to  proceed  to  Fort  Wayne, 
about  350  miles  northeastward,  and  to  cooperate  with  Rev. 
William  McCoy  in  his  labors  amongst  the  Indians.  Mr.  Welch 
was  asked  to  continue  his  ministry  in  St.  Louis  and  without  aid 
of  any  sort  from  the  Board.  This  he  could  not  do.  He  had 
already  given  to  the  work  all  that  he  possessed,  including  a 
small  personal  patrimony.  He  was  called  away  by  urgent  family 
duties,  although  he  always  retained  a  deep  interest  in  the  church 
at  St.  Louis,  and  rendered  it  substantial  assistance  in  the  years 
that  followed.  For  Mr.  Peck  to  undertake  the  journey  to  Fort 
Wayne  without  means  of  any  kind  and  with  no  promise  of  aid 
from  the  Board  in  the  long  journey,  was  as  impossible  as  a  trip 

Page  45 


to  the  moon.  Besides  his  whole  soul  was  enlisted  in  the  progress 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  frontier  field.  As  we  consider 
today  the  methods  used  at  that  time  by  the  Philadelphia  Board, 
it  seems  strange  that  Christian  men  could  have  been  guilty  of 
such  cold-blooded  and  short-sighted  policies.  Our  unbusinesslike 
Baptist  methods  are  very  often  bungling,  but  they  are  seldom  so 
bi-utal. 

The  letter  of  Mr.  Peck,  replying  to  the  terse  order  of  the 
Board,  though  written  in  the  midst  of  soul-scorching  trial  and 
affliction,  is  a  model  of  Christian  courtesy  and  great-souled  de- 
votion to  the  cause  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  pictures  in  a 
few  simple  words  the  extreme  need  in  the  western  field,  indicates 
the  inflexibility  of  his  purpose  to  remain  there  at  his  own 
charges,  and  affirms  his  conviction  that  Providence  commands 
him  to  "Stay  where  you  are !"  It  is  characteristic  of  this  good 
man  that  he  should  have  no  anger,  no  resentment,  at  the  treat- 
ment which  he  had  received,  but  should  continue  in  cordial  and 
sympathetic  relations  with  the  cause  of  world-wide  missions  and 
with  the  stupid  eastern  Board. 

A  crucial  period  in  his  life  had  now  arrived.  It  is  impos- 
sible for  us  to  realize  how  serious  was  the  problem  that  he  faced. 
The  closing  of  the  schools  in  St.  Louis  and  St.  Charles,  from 
which  he  had  hoped  so  much ;  the  departure  of  his  beloved  col- 
league, Mr.  Welch ;  the  breaking  of  all  official  ties  with  the  East ; 
the  burden  of  illness  and  affliction;  and  the  acute  financial  sit- 
uation in  which  he  was  placed,  made  a  complexus  of  difficulties 
which  seemed  insurmountable.  Perhaps  few  men,  so  great  and 
good  as  this  man,  have  ever  been  so  enmeshed  with  troubles  and 
entangling  devices  of  every  sort.  Yet  he  fought  his  way 
bravely  on. 

It  must  not  for  one  moment  be  supposed  that  the  Board  in 
Philadelphia  had  been  large-hearted  or  liberal  in  their  support 
of  the  Western  Mission.  They  never  were.  Their  communica- 
tions had  been  brief  and  far  between.  Their  remittances  of 
salary  had  been  painfully  irregular.  Sometimes  the  hard-work- 
ing missionaries  had  gone  on  with  their  labors  for  many  months 
Page  46 


without  answers  to  their  letters  or  supplies  for  their  wants. 
Methods  that  among  men  of  the  world  would  be  impossible,  and 
are  to  us  today  incredible,  were  practiced.  It  is  a  blot  u[)on  the 
splendid  record  of  our  Baptist  missionary  enterprise.  Never- 
theless, grudging  doles  of  money  had  been  received  from  time  to 
time,  and  had  been  used  with  infinite  care  and  economy.  Now 
even  these  ceased. 

Through  the  agency  of  persistent  anti-mission  preachers 
some  of  the  churches  in  the  Missouri  and  Illinois  regions  had 
been  influenced  to  withdraw  their  gifts  from  the  Mission.  Mr. 
Peck  had  prevailed  upon  a  large  number  of  the  small  and  scat- 
tered churches  to  donate  a  percentage  of  their  contributions  to 
the  support  of  the  pioneer  travelling  preachers  who  were  quite 
numerous  in  that  section  of  the  country.  Although  this  policy 
had  greatly  assisted  these  men,  they  were  animated  in  many 
cases  by  the  spirit  of  jealousy,  and  turned  against  the  hand  that 
had  helped  them. 

For  a  year  or  so  Mr.  Peck  struggled  and  sacrificed  and 
prayed.  He  continued  his  journeys  amongst  the  feeble  churches 
of  the  region,  supported  by  faith  and  the  voluntary  offerings  of 
the  people  amongst  whom  he  labored.  Then,  early  in  1822,  he 
was  formally  appointed  a  missionary  of  the  Massachusetts  Bap- 
tist Missionary  Society.  The  remuneration  was  pitifully  small ; 
he  was  guaranteed  the  amount  of  five  dollars  per  week  for  the 
time  actually  spent  in  the  field,  and  he  was  expected  to  raise  his 
own  salary,  if  possible.  His  journal  indicates  that  he  was 
greatly  cheered  by  this  new  arrangement.  It  linked  his  labors 
very  definitely  with  an  organization  which  had  conducted  mis- 
sionary operations  with  success  for  more  than  twenty  years.  It 
gave  the  lonely  man  new  courage  for  his  work. 

In  April,  1822,  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Eock  Spring, 
Illinois,  and  this  remained  for  the  balance  of  his  life  the  head- 
quarters of  his  missionary  operations.  From  a  secular  point  of 
view  the  outlook  was  not  encouraging.  He  obtained  only  a  half 
section  of  land,  and  that  was  chiefly  forest  and  stubble.  There 
were  no  buildings,  so  with  the  aid  of  kindly  folk  in  the  vicinity, 

Page  47 


he  erected  a  house  and  outbuildings.  This  toil  and  care  occupied 
several  months,  which  he  begrudged,  because  of  his  desire  to  be 
engaged  in  large  and  spiritual  enterprises. 

Yet  he  was  not  by  any  means  idle  in  the  affairs  of  the  king- 
dom. A  company  of  people,  the  most  of  whom  were  Baptists, 
had  recently  come  from  Georgia  to  Illinois.  They  had  taken 
up  their  residence  on  farms  in  the  vicinity  of  Eock  Spring. 
They  missed  the  religious  experiences  of  their  former  life.  In 
their  far  away  Georgia  home  they  had  been  parishioners  of  the 
Eev.  Jesse  Mercer,  saint  and  educator,  the  founder  of  Mercer 
University.  They  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  be  organized 
into  a  church.  So  tlirough  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Peck  they  were 
thus  constituted,  the  service  being  held  in  his  own  house.  It 
gave  him  great  encouragement  to  be  brought  thus  early  in  the 
history  of  his  new  relations  into  fellowship  with  this  body  of 
earnest  Christian  people. 

The  aspirations  of  his  heart,  however,  were  always  in  the 
wider  field.  No  sooner  had  he  settled  his  family  comfortably  in 
their  new  abode,  and  provided  for  them  through  the  cultivation 
of  the  land,  than  he  mounted  his  horse  and  started  forth  on  one 
of  his  long  and  productive  journeys.  This  took  him  to  the  east- 
ward. He  visited  various  churches  and  associations,  and  met 
the  famous  (or  infamous)  Daniel  Parker,  politician,  theologian, 
reactionary  and  propagandist.  This  shrewd  and  able  man  em- 
bodied the  whole  devilish  spirit  of  the  anti-mission  crusade.  He 
had  a  smooth  tongue,  considerable  eloquence,  and  a  genius  for 
persistent  proselytism. 

In  the  light  of  present-day  world-wide  ideas  it  is  hardly 
possible  to  understand  the  bitter  opposition  to  all  the  higher 
forms  of  Christian  service  which  characterized  the  people  of  the 
smaller  churches  in  the  New  West  one  hundred  years  ago.  At 
the  Association  in  New  Princeton,  Indiana,  Mr.  Peck  was  re- 
fused a  seat  in  the  body  and  treated  as  an  outcast,  because  of  his 
zeal  in  missionary  enterprises.  Mr.  Parker,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  welcomed  joyously,  and  applauded  in  his  rabid  opposition 
to    every    form    of    missionary    activity.      Mr.    Peck,    great- 

Page  48 


hearted  and  noble,  says  in  his  diary:  "In  my  inten'iew  with 
Brother  Parker  I  alluded  to  his  address  about  missions,  and 
told  liim  I  could  cheerfully  give  him  my  hand,  as  a  conscientious 
and  well-meaning  though  greatly  mistaken  brother." 

Describing  the  later  sessions  of  the  Association  he  says: 
"The  subject  of  missions  came  up.  This  was  occasioned  by  one 
church  having  charged  another  with  having  supported  missions." 
This  constituted  a  serious  grievance.  Mr.  Parker  arose  and 
delivered  a  fiery  address,  denouncing  all  missionary  effort  in 
lurid  and  forceful  terms.  Mr.  Peck  obtained  leave  to  speak  and 
defended  the  missionary  enterprises  of  the  denomination  with 
great  fervor.  It  was  a  memorable  occasion.  Two  of  the  most 
noteworthy  leaders  of  religious  thought  and  feeling  that  the  19th 
century  produced  were  present,  face  to  face,  at  the  meeting  of  a 
few  humble  and  insignificant  churches.  They  spoke  mightily, 
the  discussion  lasting  for  five  hours.  Mr.  Peck  must  have  ap- 
preciated the  vigor  of  his  antagonist,  for  he  says :  "I  have  never 
before  met  with  so  determined  an  opposer  to  missions  in  every 
aspect."  But  the  virile  and  eloquent  Parker,  State  Senator, 
splendid  man  of  affairs,  religious  leader,  founder  of  a  sect  and 
stalwart  reactionary  in  all  that  concerned  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
received  a  startling  rebuff;  for  the  very  Association  which  had 
declined  to  recognize  the  missionary  and  had  refused  him  a  seat 
in  its  assembly  three  days  before,  voted  heartily  to  sustain  the 
cause  of  missions,  and  resolved,  by  formal  vote,  to  support  the 
church  which  had  raised  a  contribution  for  the  great  cause. 

In  connection  with  this  short  trip  which  was  one  of  very 
many,  the  dauntless  Pioneer  notices  these  facts:  "I  have  been 
absent  from  home  twenty  days;  have  rode  456  miles,  have 
preached  twenty-five  times,  visited  many  families  and  settle- 
ments, and  gained  much  information  in  regard  to  the  destitu- 
tion of  this  part  of  our  country,  the  great  need  of  missionaries 
and  the  promising  fields  which  are  ripening."  After  a  brief 
stay  with  his  family  at  Eock  Spring,  he  started  forth  on  a  tour 
through  Missouri  from  which  he  returned  to  find  his  wife  and 
two  of  his  children  dangerously  ill.     It  was  the  greatest  cross 

Page  49 


that  he  had  to  bear,  and  he  deplores  the  fact  again  and  again 
in  his  journals,  that  the  character  of  his  far-flung  labors  took 
him  away  from  his  family  so  frequently  and  sometimes  for 
periods  of  two  or  three  months  together. 

As  soon  as  the  sick  ones  had  recovered  he  set  out  once  more 
on  his  pioneering  journeys,  attending  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Illinois  Association,  visiting  the  St.  Louis  church  and  then  pro- 
ceeding into  the  interior  of  Missouri.  The  record  of  the  next 
few  years  is  one  of  constant  and  indefatigable  labors.  He  was 
laying  foundations  of  righteousness  for  future  generations.  He 
was  seeking  to  mould  the  heart  and  conscience  of  a  new  nation. 
His  salary  was  a  wretched  pittance.  No  man  was  sent  to  aid 
him.  His  whole  being  was  thrilled  with  a  conviction  of  the 
supreme  importance  of  the  work  in  which  he  was  engaged.  So, 
sparing  himself  in  nothing,  he  wrought  by  day  and  by  night  in 
the  Master's  service.  Since  Mr.  Welch's  departure  he  had  been 
entirely  alone  in  the  leadership  of  Baptist  missionary  under- 
takings; and  in  addition  to  the  immense  field  which  he  sought 
to  cover  and  cultivate,  the  care  of  the  church  in  St.  Louis,  and 
of  that  which  had  recently  been  organized  at  Rock  Spring,  de- 
volved upon  him. 

The  spirit  which  animated  the  man  is  reflected  in  an  inci- 
dent related  by  Dr.  Euf us  Babcock  in  his  account  of  the  life  of 
Dr.  Peck.  He  lost  his  horse,  with  clothes,  valuable  papers  and 
journals  and  never  recovered  them ;  but  he  did  not  lose  his  tem- 
per. "He  was  passing  through  a  comparatively  unsettled  portion 
of  the  country,  and  had  occasion  to  dismount,  when  his  horse 
took  sudden  fright  at  himself  or  at  some  other  object,  and 
ran  very  rapidly  away  through  the  bushes  and  woods  out  of  reach 
and  out  of  sight  directly.  He  followed  in  pursuit  all  that  after- 
noon, and  at  night  came  to  a  log-cabin  upon  the  spot  where  the 
town  of  Manchester  now  is,  in  Morgan  county.  He  was  there 
made  welcome  and  entertained  for  the  night.  The  friend  in 
whose  cabin  he  took  refuge  was  afterwards  Hon.  Judge  Marks, 
of  uncommon  powers  of  discernment,  who  became  much  inter- 
Page  50 


ested  in  his  guest  from  the  first,  and  regarded  him  with  life- 
lasting  affection. 

"In  the  morning  the  horse-hunt  was  renewed  with  all  the 
help  which  could  be  mustered,  but  it  was  unsuccessful.  Then  as 
jovially  as  though  this  had  been  the  very  object  of  his  visit,  he 
joined  the  boys  in  picking  up  some  fine  large  nuts,  as  they  re- 
turned ;  and  in  the  evening  he  was  found  seated  flat  on  the  broad 
hearth-stones  of  the  cabin,  as  one  with  the  boys,  cracking  and 
eating  nuts,  and  entertaining  the  wondering  family  with  lively 
anecdotes  one  after  another,  of  which  he  seemed  to  them  to  have 
a  marvelous  supply.  This  kind  of  buoyancy  of  spirit  and  versa- 
tility of  powers  gave  him  immense  influence  among  the  people 
wherever  his  lot  was  cast." 

His  ability  easily  to  adapt  himself  to  people  of  all  condi- 
tions and  all  ages  was  one  of  the  secrets  of  the  great  influence 
which  he  soon  came  to  possess  throughout  the  entire  western 
country. 


Page  51 


UBRAKf 
«N/VERSnY0F(UJIIOIS 


CHAPTER   VI 
Methods  and  Policies 

IN  all  his  efforts  to  evangelize  the  communities  which  he  vis- 
ited "The  Pioneer,"  as  he  came  to  be  called,  used  four  chief 
agencies;  these  were  sermons,  Bibles,  Sunday-schools  and 
personal  conversations.  The  fact  that  he  founded  the  Missouri 
Bible  Society  in  1818  has  already  been  noted.  In  April  1824 
he  founded  in  Illinois  the  Green  County  Sunday  School  Associa- 
tion. The  significance  of  this  action  is  seen  when  we  remember 
that  the  American  Sunday  School  Union  was  not  organized  until 
1825,  and  that  few  if  any  groups  of  schools  had  been  brought 
together  in  associations  prior  to  that  time.  His  genius  for 
organization  and  his  statesmanlike  view  of  things  led  him  thus 
to  anticipate  the  needs  of  the  future.  Speaking  of  this  new 
Society  in  Green  Co.  he  says  in  his  journal :  "It  is  my  intention 
to  form  a  number  of  county  societies  and  then  concentrate  their 
efforts  in  a  general  union  of  Sabbath-schools." 

It  was  his  habit  to  take  with  him  on  his  journeys  as  many 
Bibles,  Testaments,  tracts  and  pamphlets  as  his  horse  could 
carry  comfortably.  The  Bibles  he  sold,  the  tracts  he  distributed 
without  charge.  In  every  favorable  location  he  organized  a 
Bible  society,  left  a  number  of  Bibles  and  other  literature  at  the 
home  of  the  newly-elected  secretar}^,  and  explained  how  more 
could  be  obtained  as  needed  from  the  depository  in  St.  Louis. 
When  a  Sunday-school  was  formed  in  a  place  he  introduced  the 
Bible  as  the  text-book  for  the  classes,  and  linked  up  its  work  with 
that  of  the  local  Bible  society.  There  was  nothing  slip-shod  about 
his  methods.  In  organizing  a  new  society  or  Sunday-school  he  gave 
to  the  occasion  due  impressiveness,  believing  that  a  good  start 
was  half  the  battle.  He  would  announce  the  proposed  plan 
and  the  date  of  organization  well  in  advance,  and  give  wide 

Page  52 


circulation  to  this  announcement.  Frequently  he  wrote  personal 
letters  to  men  prominent  in  the  community  and  the  country 
surrounding  it,  inviting  their  presence.  By  such  measures  he 
stimulated  interest  beforehand  and  secured  the  success  of  the 
movement.  As  he  correlated  his  Sunday-school  and  Bible  agency 
activities,  so  he  supplemented  his  preaching  with  personal  evan- 
gelism. 

In  writing  to  the  Massachusetts  Society,  before  the  end  of 
his  first  year's  work  under  its  direction,  he  closes  his  report 
with  the  words :  "I  have  endeavored  to  seize  every  favorable 
opportunity  of  introducing  reKgious  instruction  into  the  family 
circle,  a  course  which  if  judiciously  pursued,  may  be  rendered  of 
incalculable  benefit  and  sometimes  prove  eflBcacious  when  public 
preaching  would  produce  little  effect." 

The  more  carefully  Mr.  Peck's  methods  and  policies  are 
studied  the  more  they  reveal  their  thoroughly  modern  and 
practical  character.  For  instance,  he  heartily  discountenanced 
the  emphasis  of  evangelistic  work  to  the  neglect  of  teaching  and 
training  agencies.  Simply  to  make  fervid  appeals,  win  converts, 
gather  them  into  the  churches  and  hurry  on  to  execute  a  similar 
programme  at  the  next  stopping-place,  was  wholly  alien  to  his 
scheme  of  things.  He  states  his  views  succinctly  in  one  of  his 
letters,  dated  Xov.  1,  1824,  to  the  Massachusetts  Board,  thus: 
"1  am  deeply  impressed  with  the  idea  that  every  mission,  whether 
foreign  or  domestic,  should  be  pursued  upon  the  principle  of 
making  every  part  of  the  world  Christianize  itself.  On  this 
principle  it  has  been  my  object  to  call  into  action  and  improve 
all  the  gifts  and  talents  around  me,  some  in  the  Bible  cause, 
some  in  Sabbath  school  instruction  and  others  as  itinerant 
preachers." 

Had  all  our  missionaries  at  home  and  abroad  seen  clearly 
the  common-sense  wisdom  of  the  theory  thus  advocated,  the 
outposts  of  the  Kingdom  would  be  far  more  vigorous  and  their 
influence  vastly  greater  than  they  are  today.  Multitudes  of 
mission  churches  and  interests,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  have 
been   dragged  unsteadily  along,  clinging  to  the  skirts  of  the 

Page  53 


parent  Boards,  when  they  should  long  before  have  been  indepen- 
dent and  self-sustaining,  planning  and  pushing  their  own  ac- 
tivities, and  living  their  own  strong  life. 

Too  man}'  solicitous  and  kindly  mission  bodies,  especially 
under  our  loose  Baptist  system  of  government,  have  only  recently 
awakened  to  the  necessities  of  the  case.  They  have  found 
themselves  lacking  in  real  effectiveness  on  many  a  far-oS  field. 
They  can  count  hosts  of  feeble  and  dependent  converts;  but 
they  fail  to  breed  productiveness  and  power.  Wliile  they  were 
following  the  easier  paths,  other  Societies  were  acting  upon  the 
l^riuciple  so  clearly  stated  and  so  indefatigably  practiced  by  the 
Pioneer  of  the  prairies  one  hundred  years  ago.  Their  mistake 
has  been  that  they  failed,  in  the  earlier  years,  to  teach  and  to 
train,  to  compel  the  elements  that  foster  strength,  to  shape  the 
human  material  toward  firmness  of  character,  self-reliance  and 
self-support.  The  permanent  quality  which  inhered  in  almost 
all  of  Mr.  Peck's  work  was  due  to  his  keen  sense  of  values,  his 
attention  to  the  fundamentals  and  his  prophetic  vision.  It  was 
as  though  he  had  read  the  record  of  the  unborn  years,  and 
knew  the  need  the  future  would  create. 

It  must  not  be  imagined,  however,  that  he  was  an  organizer 
and  educator  rather  than  an  evangelist.  He  was  certainly  no 
revivalist,  as  that  term  is  commonly  understood ;  yet  the  burning 
desire  of  his  heart  and  the  constant  endeavor  of  his  preaching 
and  conversation,  were  to  bring  men  and  women  into  vital  fel- 
lowship with  Jesus  Christ.  The  type  of  evangelism  of  which 
he  was  suspicious  was  that  common  enough  in  some  of  the  fron- 
tier communities,  which  is  described  in  the  following  account 
of  a  camp-meeting  which  he  visited  in  Missouri : 

"At  evening  of  the  last  day  I  heard  a  young  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  attempt  to  preach  from  I  Peter  i,  8.  He  was  a 
young  hand  and  made  out  but  poorly.  A  Mr.  Chamberlain,  a 
Methodist,  gave  an  exhortation,  in  which  he  began  by  lamenting 
the  want  of  effort  on  the  part  of  the  people  declaring  that  he  had 
no  faith  to  exhort ;  he  reproved  the  people  for  sloth  and  neglect, 
but  soon  fell  into  a  strain  of  the  most  passionate,  powerful 
Page  54 


appeals  to  the  hopes  and  fears  of  all  around  him.  The  Meth- 
odists were  alternately  assailed  and  encouraged,  till  he  wound 
up  by  proposing  to  all  who  ever  did  pray,  or  ever  would  pray, 
to  engage  ten  minutes  by  the  watch  as  the  last  alternative. 
Upon  this  the  members  and  others  rushed  forward  to  the  stand, 
and  all  commenced  as  if  with  one  voice.  Soon  a  black  woman 
and  others  commenced  shouting.  Two  or  three  appeared  in 
agony  for  mercy.  The  preachers  would  exhort  them  to  have  a 
little  more  faith,  "to  struggle  a  few  minutes  longer,  and  God, 
Christ  and  heaven  are  yours !"  They  would  constantly  make 
appeals  to  those  engaged  to  prevent  the  fervor  and  zeal  from 
expiring.  I  left  them  about  nine  o'clock  still  engaged  and  I 
could  hear  them  shouting  at  a  great  distance." 

He  adds  in  his  memoranda  various  notes  and  comments, 
amongst  them  these : 

"All  this  excitement  and  effect,  so  far  as  visible,  might 
have  been  produced  without  the  agency  of  God,  and  might  be  and 
seemed  to  be  only  the  effect  of  human  causes.  While  from  the 
fruits  occasionally  manifested,  I  have  no  doubt  that  genuine 
convictions  and  saving  conversions  do  sometimes  follow  such 
confused  and  disorderly  meetings,  yet  it  must  be  confessed  that 
most  of  these  cases  prove  false — worse  than  worthless. 

"The  method  of  talking  to  and  exhorting  the  persons 
apparently  under  conviction  is  highly  improper  and  injudicious. 
The  whole  object  of  the  preachers  and  leaders  appears  to  be  to 
get  them  relieved  from  distress,  quite  irrespective  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  relief.  Hence,  were  it  not  for  the  apparent  necessity 
for  such  meetings,  in  a  thinly  populated  country,  and  the  fact 
that  sometimes  God  blesses  very  imperfect  means,  I  would 
disapprove  of  them  wholly.  As  they  are  congenial  to  the  habits 
of  the  people,  and  may  do  some  good,  reaching  those  not  other- 
wise accessible,  they  may  be  tolerated,  and  as  far  as  practicable 
regulated." 

These  comments  indicate  the  writer's  largeness  of  view. 
His  analysis  of  the  revival  phenomena,  judged  by  the  tests 

Page  55 


which  are  made  in  our  days  by  students  of  the  psychology  of 
religion,  is  accurate  and  illuminating.  Further  than  this,  the 
occasion  which  prompted  these  entries  in  his  journal  reveals 
their  author's  catholicity  of  spirit.  He  was  attending  a  camp- 
meeting  conducted  by  Methodists  and  Cumberland  Presbyter- 
ians. He  was  himself  a  staunch  Baptist,  yet  throughout  his  long 
period  of  active  service  there  is  never  a  trace  of  narrowness  or 
bigotry  in  his  attitude  toward  other  denominations.  He  visited 
Methodist  Camp-Meetings,  Presbyterian  Conferences,  and  all 
other  religious  gatherings  of  any  creed  or  persuasion  that  came 
in  his  way,  and  praises  with  hearty  enthusiasm  an  Episcopalian 
clergyman  to  whom  he  listened  on  a  certain  occasion:  "For 
sound  reasoning,  solid  eloquence  and  brillianc}'^  of  thought,  I 
have  never  heard  his  address  surpassed."  He  organized  the 
Missouri  Bible  Society  as  an  interdenominational  body  and  the 
many  local  branches  were  all  of  the  same  character.  There 
was  nothing  small  or  sectarian  in  his  attitude.  He  wrought 
primarily  for  the  progress  of  the  Kingdom,  the  Faith  and  the 
spread  of  the  Truth. 

He  organized  Sunday  schools  rather  than  churches.  Noth- 
ing could  have  been  more  far-sighted.  The  directions  given 
him  from  the  East  had  bidden  him  gather  together  into  churches 
any  scattered  Baptist  members  Mhom  he  might  find,  but  had  said 
not  a  word  about  Sunday  schools.  He  obeyed  the  directions ;  he 
organized  many  churches;  but  looking  forward  he  realized  the 
crucial  importance  of  reaching  the  children  and  youth,  of  guid- 
ing their  minds  in  the  way  of  Christ  and  of  shaping  their  char- 
acters according  to  the  teaching  of  Holy  Writ. 

As  one  reads  the  account  of  the  manifold  labors  and  con- 
stant journeying  of  this  pioneer  missionary,  the  predominant 
impression  is  never  that  of  routine  business  faithfully  per- 
formed but  always  that  of  growing  knowledge  and  an  ever 
firmer  grasp  of  elemental  motives  and  constructive  principles 
of  action.  One  of  the  ablest  of  our  missionary  statesmen  in 
China  recently  expressed  the  secret  of  his  quenchless  enthusiasm 
in  these  words:  "We  are  helping  to  build  a  new  and  mighty 
Page  56 


nation;  China  is  one  of  the  great  world-nations  of  to-morrow." 
This  same  prophetic  inspiration,  for  it  can  be  accurately  de- 
scribed in  such  terms,  was  the  mighty  force  in  the  ceaseless 
activities  of  our  Baptist  Pioneer. 

As  the  boundaries  of  civilization  were  extended,  as  the  im- 
migrant pushed  up  into  Central  Illinois  and  the  frontier  moved 
westward  in  Missouri,  this  far-seeing  man  enlarged  the  field  of 
his  efforts,  and  the  scope  of  his  ministry.  On  the  28th  day  of 
September,  1824,  he  reached  the  outposts  of  civilization,  on  the 
borders  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Kansas.  He  writes  in  his 
journal : 

"I  am  now  at  Liberty,  Clay  county,  on  the  extreme  western 
side  of  Missouri  river.  Southeast  lies  the  missionary  station 
of  Harmony,  among  the  Osages,  one  hundred  miles  distant. 
Northwest  are  the  Council  Bluffs,  and  before  me  the  interminable 
wilderness,  over  which  the  savage  Indians  roam  after  the  buffalo. 
Could  I  but  succeed  in  planting  the  Bible  here,  it  would  greatly 
rejoice  my  heart,  but  prospects  at  present  are  not  very  favorable. 
The  settlement  of  tin's  remote  country  in  the  extremity  of  the 
State  Avas  begun  but  four  years  since,  and  it  now  contains  about 
two  thousand  inhabitants. 

"The  people  who  have  settled  this  district  are  chiefly  from 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  sadly  destitute  of  public  spirit,  and 
manifest  a  great  degree  of  apathy  towards  benevolent  institu- 
tions, even  when  they  are  obviously  intended  for  their  own 
benefit.  More  than  one  hundred  of  these  families  are  believed 
to  be  entirely  destitute  of  the  Scriptures,  yet  when  I  explained — 
after  preaching — the  design  of  an  auxiliary  Bible  society,  the 
need  and  the  benefits  of  it,  and  then  urged  its  formation,  no 
one  stepped  forward  and  offered  to  engage  in  it." 

That  this  tour  was  not  lacking  in  definite  results,  however, 
is  manifested  from  his  statement  at  its  close,  that  he  "rode  on 
horseback  830  miles,  preached  27  times,  regular  discources, 
founded  five  branch  Bible  Societies,  attended  four  Baptist 
Associations,  two  Methodist  Camp-meetings,  besides  making  a 

Page  57 


number  of  addresses  and  preparing  the  way  for  other  Bible 
societies  hereafter.  This  has  occupied  45  days."  This  was 
one  of  his  less  successful  trips,  yet  what  a  record  for  a  month 
and  a  half!  And  much  of  the  time  was  consumed  in  slow 
riding  over  rough  forest  roads,  a  fearful  waste  of  energy  and 
hours  according  to  our  modern  railway  and  automabile  standards. 


Page  58 


CHAPTER  VII 
Awakening  the  East 

IMPORTANT  political  and  social  questions  were  now  begin- 
ning to  agitate  the  minds  of  the  people.      Ptiblic-welfare 

movements  were  being  inaugurated.  Into  the  discussion  of 
all  these  Mr.  Peck  entered  with  vital  vigor.  He  became  an  agent 
of  the  Colonization  Society,  a  mighty  advocate  of  temperance,  a 
student  of  the  intricate  problems  of  immigration,  a  stout  op- 
ponent of  the  effort  to  make  Illinois  a  slave  state.  There  was 
one  subject,  however,  which  underlay  all  others,  and  which 
tended  to  shape  and  determine  their  character.  It  was  that  of 
education,  better  education,  higher  education.  During  his  years 
in  the  West  he  had  used  his  influence  unceasingly  in  establishing 
local  schools  and  importing  competent  teachers.  Much  more 
needed  to  be  done. 

In  1826  there  was  not  a  single  institution  west  of  the  Ohio 
River,  with  a  standard  in  advance  of  that  of  the  ordinary  dis- 
trict school.  His  own  schools  at  St.  Louis  and  St.  Charles 
might  have  been  made  abundantly  successful  had  the  men  in 
the  East  shown  any  practical  sympathy  for  these  enterprises. 
He  now  determined  to  visit  the  Eastern  States.  He  had  two 
motives  in  view,  to  impart  to  others  his  own  zeal  for  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  western  country,  and  to  explain  and  enforce  the 
necessity  for  a  trained  ministry  and  an  educated  citizenship. 

He  undertook  the  long  journey  in  the  winter  season,  leav- 
ing Rock  Spring  on  Feb.  22nd  and  travelling  on  horse-back 
through  mud  and  rain  to  Cincinnati,  which  he  reached  at  the 
end  of  three  weeks.  It  was  a  joy  to  the  pioneer  preacher,  after 
enduring  the  strugles  and  trials  of  the  wilderness  for  so  many 
years,  to  get  back  to  normal  conditions  of  living.  He  was  wel- 
comed in  hospitable  Christian  homes.     He  felt  the  thrill  of 

Page  59 


Christian  fellowship.  He  preached  to  a  congregation  larger  than 
any  he  had  spoken  to,  or  even  seen,  for  nearly  three  years.  He 
arrived  in  Washington  about  the  first  of  April.  There  he  spent 
two  busy  and  delightful  weeks,  attending  the  sessions  of  Con- 
gress, meeting  President  John  Quincy  Adams,  studying  the 
affairs  of  the  newly-founded  Columbian  College,  preaching  in 
the  college  chapel  as  well  as  in  tlie  city.  He  met  two  dear 
friends  of  former  years,  Dr.  Staughton,  his  teacher  and  coun- 
sellor, who  had  become  a  pastor  in  Washington,  and  Luther 
Eice,  whose  zeal  for  missions  had  first  kindled  the  flame  in  hia 
own  heart. 

In  Philadelphia  he  was  royally  entertained  by  many  old 
friends,  and  by  some  whom  he  met  now  for  the  first  time, 
amongst  them  Alexander  Henry,  president  of  the  American 
Sunday  School  Union,  whose  agent  he  had  been  for  some  years. 
In  New  York  he  attended  the  Triennial  Convention,  speaking 
on  several  occasions  and  preacliing  on  both  Sundays  during  the 
session.  He  was  present  also  at  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  the  Tract  Society,  the  Home  Mission 
Society,  and  the  Colonization  Society.  These  May  annivers- 
eries  represented  large  interdenominational  interests;  and  they 
called  forth  his  intense  interest  and  admiration.  The  Bible 
Societ}',  in  view  of  his  valuable  services  to  that  organization, 
made  him  an  honorary  life-member. 

From  New  York  he  drove  to  Litchfield.  "I  drew  near  to 
the  hills  and  prospects  upon  which  a  thousand  times  I  had  gazed 
in  childhood — my  native  town.  How  many  pleasing  and  painful 
associations  rush  into  the  mind  on  returning  to  one's  native 
home  after  an  absence  of  years !  Changes  have  occured,  a  new 
generation  has  started  up,  the  old  people  have  mostly  vanished 
from  the  earth;  but  the  hills  and  valleys,  the  rocks  and  rills 
remain  unchanged."  His  father  was  long  since  dead ;  his  mother 
had  married  again  and  again  been  widowed.  He  writes  that 
though  age  had  silvered  her  locks  her  heart  remained  unchilled. 
He  spent  a  few  days  with  her,  and  amongst  old  neighbors  and 
friends,  and  then  continued  his  journey. 
Page  60 


He  reached  Boston  in  time  to  attend  the  annual  gathering  of 
the  Massachusetts  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  whose  represent- 
ative he  had  been  for  four  years.  He  spoke  with  tremendous 
earnestness  at  one  of  the  public  meetings,  and  at  a  session  of  the 
Trustees  laid  before  them  a  plan  of  operations  for  future  work 
in  the  West.  This  was  adopted  and  he  was  authorized  to 
secure  funds  for  its  administration,  and  then  to  put  it  in  force. 
It  involved  a  system  of  circuit-preaching,  by  which  preachers 
were  to  tour  the  western  states,  one  hundred  dollars  per  annum 
to  be  paid  them  by  the  Board,  and  the  remainder  of  their  salary 
to  be  raised  by  them  on  the  field.  The  plan  included  also  the 
appointment  of  an  efficient  man  to  take  the  pastorate  of  the 
church  in  St.  Louis,  and  to  develop  a  school,  the  income  from 
which  would  be  expected  to  cover  half  of  his  salary. 

The  third  item  in  the  plan  proposed  the  establishment  of  a 
theological  School,  to  be  located  in  Illinois,  where  young  men 
might  be  trained  and  equipped  for  the  work  of  the  Gospel 
ministry.  "Such  a  school,"  he  says,  "has  been  an  object  in  my 
mind  for  years,  as  a  very  necessary  part  of  the  system  of  meas- 
ures which  I  have  attempted  to  carry  forward ;  but  I  have  never 
seen  the  time  to  accomplish  it  until  now  ...  I  cannot  bear 
that  our  preachers  in  Illinois  and  Missouri  should  continue  as 
ignorant  as  some  of  them  now  are.  In  the  three  states  are  not 
less  than  250  Baptist  preachers.  A  majority  of  them  have  been 
raised  on  the  frontiers,  with  scarcely  the  advantages  of  a  common 
school  education,  and  not  even  habituated  to  read  the  word  of 
God  in  early  life.  Every  year  is  adding  to  the  number  of  this 
class  of  preachers.  .  .  .  What  should  be  done?  Is  not  the  path 
of  duty  plain  as  the  noon-day  sun  ?  Furnish  these  men  with  the 
means  of  such  education  as  circumstances  admit.  Establish  a 
theological  school." 

Having  obtained  the  hearty  endorsement  of  the  Board  and 
Society  in  Boston  he  began  at  once  to  sound  his  message  in  the 
ears  of  the  churches  of  New  England  and  New  York.  June, 
July,  August  and  a  part  of  September  were  spent  in  this  effort 
to  explain  his  plan  and  urge  its  claims.     His  labors  during  that 

Page  61 


time  were  prodigious.  This  was  really  the  first  vacation  he  had 
ever  had,  and  he  spent  it,  as  he  spent  his  whole  life,  in  ceaseless 
activity. 

In  July  he  reports  $150  received  for  the  School  besides  $140 
for  mission  purposes;  on  the  15th  day  of  September  the  amount 
for  the  School  had  grown  to  $658.52,  besides  books  and  other 
articles  valued  at  $314.50.  He  expresses  his  gratitude  for  these 
gifts,  although  there  is  an  undercurrent  of  regret  in  his  journal 
that  indicates  a  feeling  of  some  disappointment  that  the  enthus- 
iasm for  the  great  cause  was  not  more  full  and  spontaneous.  Dr. 
Babcock,  in  his  biography  of  the  Pioneer,  calls  attention  to  his 
analysis  of  some  of  the  qualities  of  New  England  folks,  as 
follows : 

"We  are  to  remember  that  he  went  everywhere  with  his 
eyes  and  ears,  and  heart,  open,  to  learn  and  appreciate  whatever 
was  excellent  and  worthy  of  imitation.  Occasional  glintings  of 
his  convictions — as  now  a  travelled  Yankee  he  returned  to  invest- 
igate more  broadly  and  compare  more  justly  his  native  New 
England  with  fairer  and  more  fertile  regions  elsewhere — will 
peep  out  in  his  journals  and  letters  of  this  period.  He  particu- 
larly remarked  with  some  astonishment  the  littleness  and  nar- 
ro'^vness  of  views,  the  hidebound  prejudices  which  here  so 
generally  prevailed,  as  they  were  now  magnified  by  contrast. 
But  he  did  full  justice,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  taste,  the  moral 
integrity,  the  industry  and  sobriety,  as  well  as  the  provident 
carefulness  (not  to  say  parsimony),  which  he  here  witnessed. 

"Their  neat  and  inviting  villages,  with  the  church-edifice 
and  the  school-house  in  central  prominence,  indicated  unmis- 
takably the  elements  of  New  England's  welfare  and  happiness. 
These,  too,  by  a  species  of  social  transmission,  she  was  sending 
abroad  and  planting  and  nurturing  all  over  the  fertile  West. 
Here  was  the  hedged-up  nursery,  where  the  seedlings  were  de- 
fended while  taking  root,  and,  if  need  be,  receiving  the  budding 
or  inoculation  which  insured  the  excellence  of  their  fruits. 
'But  then,'  said  he,  'they  need  to  be  transplanted  to  a  broader 
and  more  fertile  field,  where  they  will  have  ample  space  and 
Page  62 


verge  enough  to  be  rooted  in  our  broad,  rich  prairies,  and  bring 
forward  under  more  genial  skies  their  abundant  products.'  " 

The  journey  homeward  occupied  a  little  more  than  two 
months.  The  aged  mother  was  alone  and  in  poor  financial 
circumstances  so  her  son  decided  that  she  must  return  with  him. 
It  was  a  serious  undertaking  for  one  so  frail.  Accordingly  he 
had  an  easy  two-horse  carriage  built  under  his  personal  direction, 
for  his  mothei-'s  comfort  on  the  trip,  and  purchased  an  additional 
horse.  On  the  23rd  of  November,  the  last  stage  on  the  long  trip, 
he  drove  forty-four  miles,  and  reached  Eock  Spring  in  the 
evening.  He  had  been  absent  nine  months  and  one  day.  He 
had  carried  the  ambitious  spirit  of  the  New  West  into  the  eastern 
states.  He  had  aroused  and  quickened  with  missionary  impulses 
many  an  easy-going  soul  and  many  a  somnolent  and  self-satis- 
fied church.  He  had  compelled  the  members  of  half  a  dozen 
great  boards  and  societies  to  turn  their  eyes  toward  the  promis- 
ing young  empire  that  was  building  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
He  had  revealed  to  multitudes  the  spiritual  task  and  opportunity. 
To  effect  all  this  he  had  travelled  4,400  miles,  chiefly  by  the 
slow  method  of  wagon-conveyance. 


Page  63 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Creating  New  Agencies  of  Power 

WHEN  the  yoimg  missionary  John  Mason  Peck  went  first 
to  the  West  he  was  a  stranger  and  foreigner.  The 
land  was  to  him  a  terra  incognita.  He  was  sick  in 
body  and  anxious  in  mind.  His  instructions  from  the  Board 
were  so  vague  that  he  did  not  know  whether  he  was  to  labor 
amongst  Indians  or  white  men,  whether  his  home  was  to  be 
in  town  or  country.  He  was  "a  raw  liand."  His  experience 
in  the  ministry  had  been  limited  to  two  or  three  little  country 
churches.  His  "regular"  education  had  been  confined  to  one 
year  of  study  in  the  residence  of  a  Philadelphia  pastor.  With 
nothing  of  example  or  precedent  to  guide  him,  and  with  charm- 
ingly indefinite  promises  of  financial  and  other  assistance,  he 
was  attacking  the  entire  western  wilderness  in  the  name  of  the 
Almighty. 

The  Board  that  sent  him  knew  less  than  he  did  about  the 
country  and  its  needs;  besides  this  they  were  more  interested  in 
Burma  than  they  were  in  Missouri.  They  had  implored  him 
to  work  amongst  the  Indians,  as  their  need  was  so  great — the 
analogy  of  Burma  was  in  their  minds.  They  seem  to  have 
regarded  the  white  settlers  as  sturdy  Christian  gentlemen,  the 
children  of  the  churches  of  New  England  and  the  Middle  States. 
Mr.  Peck's  situation  had  not  been  an  enviable  one,  judged  by  the 
world's  standards. 

Now,  in  1826,  he  arrives  again  in  the  West.  All  things 
have  changed.  In  nine  years  he  has  gained  a  unique  point  of 
vantage.  He  knows  the  West  better  than  any  other  living  man. 
He  knows  its  rivers  and  prairies,  its  jungles  and  clearings,  its 
towns  and  settlements,  from  Shawneetown  to  Liberty  and  from 
Sangamon  to  the  Ozarks,  as  the  pilot  knows  the  channel,  as  the 

Page  64 


old  trapper  knows  the  haunts  of  game.  More  than  this,  he 
understands  the  people.  They  are  all  in  his  mind  and  in  his 
heart.  He  understands  them  individually  and  as  community- 
groups.  He  can  classify  and  tabulate  them,  socially,  racially, 
intellectually,  ethically  and  with  reference  to  their  respective 
economic  values.  ]\Iore  than  this,  again,  he  has  a  quite  definite 
plan  for  their  redemption,  their  educational  and  social  as  well 
as  their  spiritual  redemption.  Nine  years  ago  this  man  was  a 
learner,  a  beginner,  quite  untried  in  pioneer  work.  Now  he 
is  a  man  of  measures  and  resources,  an  experienced  leader,  a 
seasoned  veteran. 

His  purity  of  spirit  and  singleness  of  aim  were  indicated 
in  his  attitude  toward  his  work.  Innumerable  duties,  the 
accumulation  of  nine  months  of  absence,  crowded  upon  him; 
while  the  broad  plans  to  which  his  mission  eastward  had  brought 
endorsement  and  support,  urged  their  claims  for  speedy  execu- 
tion. He  spent  six  hours  each  night  in  sleep  and  the  rest  of 
his  time  in  toil.  At  this  time  he  writes  in  his  journal :  "I  burn 
with  zeal  to  be  laborious  and  do  good.  I  never  felt  so  far  re- 
moved from  selfishness  or  any  personal  desires  and  aims.  I  am 
somehow  pressed  forv/ard  in  a  great  work.  Vast  and  important 
benefits  for  future  generations  seem  to  hang  on  my  personal 
efforts.  Had  I  the  means  I  could  cheerfully  sacrifice  thousands 
for  the  good  of  the  cause;  and  such  as  I  have  of  time,  talents, 
efforts,  endurance,  I  cheerfully  offer." 

As  a  result  of  the  successful  journey  which  he  had  made 
Mr.  Peck  was  able  to  inaugurate  three  new  lines  of  activity. 
To  his  complex  and  splendidly  organized  system  of  itinerant 
evangelism,  Bible  work  and  Sundaj^-school  enterprise  he  now 
added  within  three  years  a  central  Seminary  for  academic  in- 
struction, a  weekly  religious  journal  and  circuit-preaching  by  a 
group  of  men  carefully  chosen  for  the  task.  He  intended  that 
these  agencies  should  be  definitely  articulated  with  the  earlier 
enterprises,  and  should  promote  their  progress. 

It  was  not  his  fault  if  this  ideal  was  not  perfectly  realized 
in  every  particular.     The  opposition  of  the  anti-mission  Baptists 

Page  65 


had  now  expressed  itself  in  the  formation  of  a  separate  body, 
which  by  its  bitter  spirit  and  its  unfair  propaganda,  rent 
churches  and  associations  asunder.  When  application  was  made 
for  a  charter  for  the  new  Seminary  an  anti-mission  preacher 
who  was  a  member  of  the  State  senate  succeeded  by  his  crafty 
methods  in  defeating  the  plan.  Jealousy  and  intrigue  captured 
also  some  of  the  men  whom  Mr.  Peck  sought  to  enlist  in  his 
circuit  plan. 

Many  of  them,  however,  had  antagonized  him  from  the 
beginning.  His  success  and  growing  power  had  only  inflamed 
their  passion.  What  at  first  had  been  a  sulky  indifference  or  a 
gruff  denial  had  now  become  a  rancorous  hatred.  They  sought 
to  destroy  the  influence  of  the  "boss,"  the  "dictator."  They 
did  not  hesitate  to  write  letters  again  and  again  to  the  various 
Societies  in  the  East  with  which  he  was  connected,  accusing  him 
of  incompetence  and  failure. 

It  is  necessary  to  realize  the  fact  and  fury  of  this  long- 
continued  persecution  in  order  to  estimate  at  their  true  value 
his  achievements.  Staggering  beneath  the  Aveight  of  many 
important  undertakings  this  venomous  hostility  on  the  part  of 
so-called  Christian  ministers  and  churches  tested  his  faith  to  the 
utmost.  Yet  those  who  knew  him  well  at  that  period  of  his  life 
bear  testimony  to  the  charity  of  his  spirit  and  his  steady  refusal 
to  deal  harshly  or  vindictively  with  his  foes. 

The  amount  which  Mr.  Peck  had  secured  to  help  in  the 
founding  of  a  Seminary  was  small,  but  he  possessed  a  heart  of 
hope.  Contributions,  he  believed,  would  continue  to  come  in 
and  the  expense  of  the  school  would  not  be  large.  On  the  first 
of  January,  1827,  a  number  of  his  staunch  friends  and  suppor- 
ters from  different  parts  of  the  state  met  at  his  house  in  Eock 
Spring,  in  answer  to  his  personal  invitation.  They  decided  by 
a  unanimous  vote  to  establish  a  Literary  and  Theological  Serai- 
nary.  They  elected  a  Board  of  Trustees,  consisting  of  five  min- 
isters and  four  laymen,  under  the  chairmanship  of  Rev.  James 
Lemen,  a  warm  friend  of  the  Pioneer  and  regarded  by  him  as 
the  ablest  Baptist  leader  in  the  Illinois  country.  They  then 
Page  66 


chose  a  site  for  the  school,  or  rather  it  was  chosen  for  them  by 
an  offer  of  Mr.  Peck  to  donate  land  on  his  own  farm  for  the  pur- 
pose. They  decided  that  building  operations  should  begin  at 
once. 

In  considering  the  matter  of  financial  management  it  was 
deemed  wise  to  organize  a  Joint-stock  company,  each  subscriber 
to  stock,  in  the  amount  of  ten  dollars  or  more,  being  entitled  to 
one  vote  in  the  election  of  trustees,  and  to  free  room  rental  and 
free  use  of  the  library  for  his  children  in  case  they  should 
enter  the  school.  This  was  certainly  a  generous  provision. 
Having  reached  these  excellent  conclusions  the  company  de- 
parted, leaving  their  host,  as  usual,  to  carry  the  load  of  care  and 
responsibility  in  the  execution  of  the  plans  they  had  made. 
Although  he  was  already  doing  the  work  of  a  dozen  men  he  agreed 
to  act  as  superintendent  of  construction,  solicitor  of  funds,  can- 
vasser for  pupils  and  organizer  of  the  school.  He  knew  that 
he  could  depend  on  Mr.  Lemen,  Mr.  PuUiam  and  a  few  other 
"stalwarts"  for  vigorous  cooperation. 

In  September  three  buildings  were  completed  and  ready  for 
occupancy.  The  seminary  proper  was  a  substantial  two-story 
wooden  structure,  the  lower  floor  being  designed  for  assembly 
purposes  and  the  floor  above  for  a  dormitory.  The  older  boys 
had  rude  bedsteads  provided  for  them,  while  the  small  boys  were 
to  sleep  on  straw  beds  on  the  floor.  On  each  side  of  the  main 
building  was  a  one-story  wing.  One  of  these  was  set  apart  for 
the  library  and  the  teachers'  living-rooms,  the  other  for  class- 
rooms. Near  by  a  log-cabin  was  erected,  to  serve  as  a  boarding- 
hall.  A  carpenter  shop  was  also  built.  It  is  probable  that  the 
"Eock  Spring  Theological  and  High  School"  was  one  of  the 
first  institutions  in  the  United  States  to  adopt  the  plan  of 
manual  training,  for  provision  was  made  from  the  first  for 
informal  instruction  and  quite  an  amount  of  active  practice  in 
carpentry  and  agriculture. 

Before  the  first  of  October  two  teachers  had  been  secured. 
One  was  to  serve  as  principal  and  teach  Christian  theology, 
this  term  covering  the  whole  range  of  special  studies  in  which 

Page  67 


a  theological  seminary  indulges ;  the  other,  as  professor  of  math- 
ematics and  natural  philosophy,  Avas  to  take  charge  of  everything 
left  over  from  the  other  department,  including  English,  the 
classics  and  history.  Mr.  Peck  assisted  in  the  teaching  when 
he  was  at  home. 

On  the  first  of  Novemher  the  Seminary  opened  its  doors. 
Rev.  Joshua  Bradley,  a  graduate  of  Brown  University  and  a 
teacher  of  experience,  had  been  selected  as  Principal,  and  Mr. 
John  Eussell  as  head  of  the  high  school  department.  Twenty 
boarding  pupils  and  several  day  scholars  were  enrolled  during 
the  first  week  of  the  term.  For  four  years  the  institution 
carried  forward  its  work,  at  times  under  great  financial  stress, 
and  often  in  face  of  personal  misunderstandings.  The  number 
of  students  at  one  time  reached  a  total  of  130.  The  teachers 
were  strong  and  resourceful  men ;  and  the  school,  in  spite  of  its 
drawbacks,  rendered  splendid  and  efficient  service. 

The  second  enterprise  to  be  launched  at  this  period  was  a 
religious  newspaper.  Perhaps  none  of  the  Pioneer's  plans 
was  more  stoutly  opposed.  Not  only  his  old-time  opponents, 
but  many  of  his  friends,  both  west  and  east,  thought  the  venture 
unwise.  He  was  rather  heavily  involved  at  this  time,  on  ac- 
count of  disastrous  conditions  in  the  "white"  church  at  St.  Louis. 
Debts  had  multiplied.  Generous  supporters  of  the  church  had 
died.  Mr,  Welch  had  gone.  The  Philadelphia  Board  in  "re- 
leasing" Mr.  Peck  years  before,  had  blandly  evaded  all  responsi- 
bilities for  the  work  it  had  authorized.  Mr.  Peck  had  signed 
promissory  notes  to  save  the  honor  of  the  cause.  These  were 
now  maturing,  and  his  struggles  to  meet  them,  and  to  support 
his  family  also,  were  a  fearful  strain  upon  his  courage  and 
resourcefulness.  He  was  ever  the  soul  of  nobility.  In  all 
his  long  life  his  honor  was  absolutely  unquestioned,  his  char- 
acter stainless.  He  could  not  involve  others  in  these  anxieties 
and  obligations  wliich  had  come  upon  him  through  his  own  big- 
heartedness  and  self-sacrifice.  So  he  agonized  in  secret,  carried 
forward  his  multifarious  enterprises,  and  little  by  little  met  all 
of  his  indebtedness  in  full. 
Page  68 


Those  of  his  friends  who  knew  the  facts  in  this  case,  and 
who  realized  also  the  uncertainties  of  the  school  at  Rock  Spring, 
besought  him  to  stay  his  course.  Even  in  Boston  it  was  difficult 
for  a  religious  paper  to  support  itself,  with  all  of  old  Xew 
England  and  adjoining  states  for  a  constituency.  To  attempt 
such  a  scheme  in  the  west,  where  the  people  were  poor,  the  con- 
ditions crude,  few  journals  of  any  kind  circulated  and  the  few 
little  read,  seemed  a  mad  venture.  Besides  it  would  take  too 
much  of  the  Pioneer's  time,  which  was  already  more  than 
occupied  witli  more  important  duties.  However,  Mr.  Peck  had 
a  conviction  in  the  matter,  and  he  had  a  way  of  following  his 
convictions  with  a  persistency  that  thrust  aside  all  warnings. 
Consequently,  the  paper  was  started. 

The  prospectus  announcing  the  purpose  of  the  new  enter- 
prise, and  calling  for  cooperation  financial  and  otherwise,  was 
issued  on  December  2nd,  1828.  It  was  widely  circulated  and 
elicited  a  great  deal  of  curiosity  but  very  few  subscriptions. 
The  first  number  of  "The  Pioneer  of  the  Valley  of  the  Miss- 
issippi" appeared  on  April  2.5th,  1829.  The  name  of  Eev. 
John  M.  Peck  appears  as  editor,  that  of  Eev.  T.  P.  Greene  as 
publisher.  Mr.  Greene  was  the  occasion  if  not  the  cause  for  the 
establishment  of  the  paper.  Mr.  Peck  had  made  his  acquaintance 
some  time  before.  He  had  found  him  to  be  a  practical  and 
energetic  man  who  combined  the  offices  of  preacher,  farmer  and 
printer,  and  conducted  a  small  newspaper  near  St.  Charles,  with 
the  help  of  his  two  sons. 

It  was  natural  that  Mr.  Peck,  pondering  upon  the  im- 
portance of  a  religious  paper,  should  ask  liimself  the  question, 
"Why  might  not  this  man,  with  his  family  and  printing-plant, 
remove  to  Eock  Spring,  send  his  young  children  to  the  Seminary, 
and  convert  his  local  newspaper  into  an  important  religious 
journal?  It  would  be  an  advantage  to  Mr.  Greene,  to  his 
children,  to  the  mission  work  in  general,  and  to  the  Baptist 
community  in  three  States."  This  pondering  issued  in  consul- 
tation and  then  in  action.  The  Greene  family  moved  to  Eock 
Spring.  The  carpenter-shop  was  transformed  into  a  printing- 
Pope  G9 


office,  and  the  history  of  Baptist  journalism  in  the  West  began. 
This  new  venture  constituted  the  first  religious  periodical  in 
Illinois,  and  the  first  Baptist  weekly  paper  west  of  Ohio. 

It  was  never  a  financial  success.  How  often  in  the  annals 
of  recorded  time  has  a  Baptist  journal  been  a  financial  success  ? 
Even  with  the  aid  of  the  job-printing  department,  there  was  an 
annual  deficit  for  each  of  the  twelve  years  until  the  paper  was 
merged  with  another,  and  ceased  its  independent  existence.  This 
deficit  averaged  about  $200,  and  was  usually  met  without  com- 
plaint by  Mr.  Peck  and  a  few  of  his  friends.  They  had 
the  large  vision,  and  they  were  right.  The  influence  of  this 
paper,  making  its  way  week  by  week  into  the  homes  of  hundreds 
of  scattered  families,  bearing  its  message  of  cheer  and  fellow- 
ship, was  an  agency  that  was  greatly  needed.  It  was  a  source  of 
instruction  also  in  many  families  where  reading-matter  was 
scanty  and  means  of  education  slight.  It  was  a  factor  of  real 
value  in  uniting  a  wide-spread  Baptist  constituency,  and  in  shap- 
ing the  course  of  our  denominational  life  throughout  the  whole 
region  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 


Page  10 


CHAPTER   IX 
The  Birth  of  the  Home  Mission  Society 

THE  section  of  country  between  the  western  boundary  of 
Indiana  and  Kansas  City  is  today  one  of  the  wealthiest 
and  most  fertile  districts  in  the  world.  It  abounds  in 
cities  and  towns  of  the  most  prosperous  character.  Its  prairies 
yield  immeasurable  plenitude  of  corn  and  grain.  Its  churches 
and  schools  and  colleges;  its  charities  and  abundant  philan- 
thropies; its  stable  institutions  and  resourceful  citizenship  com- 
bine to  make  it  one  of  the  finest  products  of  our  modern 
civilization.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  imagine  that  this  fine 
and  most  attractive  country  has  been  developed  to  its  present 
status  within  a  period  of  eighty  years — yet  such  is  the  case. 
Within  the  life-time  of  men  still  with  us  this  miracle  has  taken 
place. 

The  change  seems  at  first  to  have  been  wrought  by  purely 
material  agencies.  Steam  and  electricity  have  certainly  done 
marvellous  things.  Chicago  with  its  two  million  people  and  its 
opulent  magnificence  is  the  most  stupendous  creation  of  the  mod- 
ern superman.  It  owes  its  grandeur,  we  say,  to  the  age  of  science. 
Yet  this  is  not  by  any  means  the  fact.  The  real  greatness  of 
the  Middle  West  lies  in  its  ethical  and  spiritual  attainments. 
It  would  have  been  a  queer  and  crazy  country,  big  and  brutal 
and  abominable,  had  it  not  been  for  the  self-sacrificing  labors 
of  the  missionaries  of  the  cross. 

ISTone  amongst  them  all  was  more  completely  devoted,  or 
more  actively  alive  to  the  responsibilities  of  the  Christian  church 
in  moulding  the  character  of  the  new  age  than  the  subject  of 
this  sketch.  He  saw  the  opportunities.  He  forecast  the  future. 
He  realized  the  need  for  preachers  and  teachers  possessed  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ. 

Page  71 


His  plan  for  extended  circuit-preaching,  though  appealing 
less  strongly  to  the  imagination  than  the  building  of  a  Seminary 
or  the  founding  of  a  newspaper,  contained  within  it  rich  pos- 
sibilities of  far-reaching  spiritual  influence.  He  did  not  hasten 
unduly  in  putting  it  into  execution.  He  knew  by  bitter  exper- 
ience that  pledges  were  not  cash,  and  might  never  be  transformed 
into  dollars.  He  knew  that  Boards  were  not  infallible.  So  he 
chose  his  men  carefully,  and  satisfied  himself  beforehand  that 
there  was  a  reasonable  certainty  of  their  being  paid  promptly  and 
in  full  for  their  hard  labor. 

The  Pioneer  missionary  had  now  for  a  dozen  years  been  "spy- 
ing out  the  land."  His  papers  and  manuscripts,  as  well  as  the 
books  which  he  afterwards  published,  indicate  his  encyclopedic 
knowledge  of  the  country  and  its  needs.  He  knew  that  the 
scheme  of  circuit-preaching  could  be  made  a  source  of  power, 
for  he  had  followed  this  method  with  tremendous  success  in  hio 
own  missionary  labors.  Also,  he  realized  that  it  could  then  be 
put  into  effect  with  less  friction  and  loss  of  energy  than  under 
other  circumstances  would  have  been  possible,  because  he  was  so 
intimately  familiar  with  the  comparative  needs  of  the  various 
sections  that  he  could  place  the  preachers  in  the  localities  where 
the  conditions  were  most  favorable  for  constructive  and  pro- 
ductive effort. 

For  a  long  time  he  had  been  preparing  the  way  for  the 
enterprise.  His  journal  contains  such  records  as  the  following: 
"On  this  route  I  have  rode  302  miles.  This  is  a  circuit  suitable 
for  an  active  missionary  in  this  country  to  ride  over  in  one 
month,  and  preach  thirty  times,  besides  attending  to  keeping  alive 
Bible  societies,  Sunday-schools  and  looking  well  to  the  discipline 
of  the  churches."  So  now,  holding  the  Board  in  Boston  quietly 
but  firmly  true  to  their  promise  to  contribute  $100  per  year  to 
each  circuit-preacher,  with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to 
secure  the  balance  of  his  support  from  the  field  on  which  he 
labored,  he  began,  about  the  year  1827,  the  selection  of  his  men. 
The  first  of  these  itinerant  missionaries  whom  he  chose 
was  that  man  of   Christly  spirit,   Lewis   Williams,   to   whom 

Page  12 


reference  has  already  been  made.  No  sooner  had  he  gone  forth 
on  his  errand  of  mercy  than  the  wilderness  began  to  rejoice  and 
blossom  as  the  rose.  lie  remained  in  the  employ  of  the  Society, 
and  under  Mr.  Peck's  direction,  until  his  death.  It  was  only  a 
few  years,  but  spiritual  blessings  and  gracious  revivals  were  un- 
ceasing attendants  of  his  journeyings  here  and  there.  He  was 
an  elect  soul. 

The  "circuits"  to  which  these  men  were  assigned  were  not 
unduly  cramped  or  limited.  There  was  lots  of  elbow-room, 
especially  in  the  inception  of  the  undertaking.  To  one  man  was 
given  a  district  "about  as  large  as  the  State  of  Massachusetts," 
to  another  "a  tract  of  country,  thinly  populated,  but  equal  in 
extent  to  the  State  of  Connecticut."  The  elder  missionary 
found  peculiar  delight  in  the  successes  which  from  the  first 
accompanied  the  work  of  his  young  brethren,  in  the  herculean 
task  of  winning  the  West  for  God.  During  the  years  that  fol- 
lowed the  launching  of  the  fine  system  of  circuit  administration 
multitudes  of  people  in  almost  every  section  of  the  wide  field 
were  converted.  Feeble  interests  grew  into  strong  centers  of 
Christian  activity;  out  of  Sunday-schools  churches  were  born; 
the  flames  of  pure  evangelism  spread  from  one  community  to 
another;  the  harvests  of  toilsome  years  of  broad  scattering  of 
seed  were  being  garnered. 

Not  only  the  West  but  the  East  felt  the  vital  throb  of  this 
enthusiasm.  At  Hamilton,  New  York,  a  number  of  young  men, 
hearing  the  story  of  the  growing  Baptist  interest  and  opportunity 
in  "the  Golden  West"  dedicated  their  lives  to  service  in  that 
country.  In  every  direction  the  Divine  Spirit  was  gathering 
His  trophies. 

The  year  1831  will  be  ever  memorable  in  the  annals  of  our 
Baptist  faith  for  in  that  year  Dr.  Jonathan  Going,  a  wise  and 
trusted  leader,  was  sent  on  a  tour  of  investigation.  It  is  no  cause 
for  wonder  that  the  prodigious  personal  achievements  of  Mr. 
Peck  in  his  wide  field,  the  founding  by  him  of  an  Academy  of 
high  grade,  the  establishment  by  him  of  a  religious  journal,  the 

Page  13 


successful  prosecution  by  him  of  a  system  of  missionary  evan- 
gelism which  had  already  attracted  the  interest  of  Christian 
people  in  all  parts  of  the  land,  should  have  startled  the  slow- 
moving  people  of  New  England,  and  stirred  their  curiosity. 
Such  a  many-sided  and  productive  enterprise  as  the  Christian 
church  has  seldom  seen  was  going  forward  in  the  new  states  of 
the  west;  and  it  was  energized  by  the  brain  and  heart  of  a 
humble  Baptist  missionary.  It  had  growTi  during  the  years 
between  1824  and  1831  to  a  magnitude  quite  out  of  proportion 
to  the  size  of  the  constituency  which  was  supposed  to  control  it. 

It  is  forever  to  the  honor  of  the  Massachusetts  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Society  that  they  "caught  the  vision"  and  adopted  Mr. 
Peck  as  their  representative;  after  the  Triennial  Convention, 
in  inconceivable  obtuseness  and  spiritual  stupidity,  had  dis- 
missed him  and  closed  his  mission  in  1820.  It  is  a  tribute 
forever  to  the  wisdom  of  the  same  Society  that  when  they  wit- 
nessed the  marvellous  expansion  of  all  the  interests  committed 
to  his  care,  they  should  have  realized  that  the  great  work  de- 
manded a  larger  body  of  control.  They  said,  in  effect:  "The 
labors  of  this  man  are  amazing.  They  can  no  longer  be  gov- 
erned by  a  State;  they  must  belong  to  a  nation.  There  should 
be  organized  a  great  national  society  to  direct  the  home  mission- 
ary enterprises  of  the  denomination.  At  least  this  is  what  we 
think  and  believe.  We  will  send  a  trusted  messenger  to  find  out 
about  it."  So  they  dispatched  Dr.  Going  with  full  instructions, 
and  eagerly  awaited  his  report. 

Five  years  before,  on  his  visit  to  the  Atlantic  States,  Mr. 
Peck  had  broken  his  Journey  between  Litchfield  and  Boston,  in 
order  to  visit  this  man.  He  had  poured  into  his  heart  the  story 
of  the  West.  He  had  touched  vibrant  chords  and  awakened 
pure  and  sympathetic  emotions.  So  as  Mr.  Peck  had  captured 
Dr.  Going,  he  in  his  turn  had  captured  the  consecrated  energies 
of  the  Boston  Board.  Hence  this  visit.  Dr.  Going  was  no 
shallow  man  of  the  moment,  so,  through  the  years  that  followed, 
he  and  Mr.  Peck  had  conducted  an  animated  correspondence, 
Page  74 


until  he  had  become  convinced  through  the  letters  of  the  Pioneer 
of  the  supreme  importance  of  his  work. 

On  June  20,  1831,  Mr.  Peck,  before  retiring  for  the  night, 
made  entry  in  his  journal  of  the  day's  events,  as  his  custom 
was  for  many  years.  This  is  the  record :  "Today  Elder  J.  Going, 
of  Massachusetts,  sent  out  to  explore  the  condition  of  the  Bap- 
tists in  the  West,  arrived  at  my  house."  Our  brother  refers 
here  to  his  humble  private  dwelling  at  Rock  Spring.  But  he 
had  a  house  of  larger  dimensions.  Its  roof  was  the  blue  sky 
and  its  chambers  and  apartments  were  to  be  found  in  forest, 
town  and  prairie,  throughout  the  broad  expanse  of  two  imperial 
States.  This  larger  house  was  his  dwelling;  he  had  lived  in  it 
day  and  night;  and,  during  the  whole  period  of  Dr.  Going's 
stay,  he  "kept  him  going"  in  royal  and  strenuous  fashion. 

To  quote  the  words  of  Dr.  Ruf us  Babcock :  "Very  earnestly 
did  these  men  of  kindred  spirit,  worthy  to  be  reckoned  'true 
yoke-fellows'  devote  themselves  for  the  next  three  months  to 
canvassing  the  mighty  problem:  'How  can  the  great  work  of 
home  evangelization  be  most  efficiently  promoted?'  They  trav- 
elled together  by  day  and  night,  in  sunshine  and  in  storm, 
through  large  portions  of  Illinois,  Missouri,  Indiana  and  Ken- 
tucky. They  conferred  with  all  the  more  intelligent  and  pious 
ministers  and  laymen;  attended  associations,  churches,  camp- 
meetings,  and  all  other  gatherings  of  Baptists,  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable; enquired  and  consulted,  wept  and  prayed  and  rejoiced 
together,  and  finally,  just  before  they  parted  in  September  fol- 
lowing, at  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  there  occurs  the  following  in  Mr. 
Peck's  journal:  'Here  we  agreed  on  a  plan  of  the  American 
Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society.'  The  next  meeting  records. 
'I  parted  with  Elder  Going  to  proceed  homeward.' " 

Thus  was  born  in  the  spirit  of  humble  faith  and  earnest 
prayer,  the  great  organization,  whose  influence  has  penetrated 
eveiy  nook  and  corner  of  our  land,  and  which  holds  today  a 
position  of  unrivalled  power  amongst  the  missionary  agenciee 
of  America. 

Page  75 


John  Mason  Peck,  discoverer  of  the  spiritual  values  of 
the  New  West,  pioneer  explorer  and  planter  of  churches,  leader 
of  leaders,  inspirer  of  men,  prophet  of  spiritual  progress,  was 
the  founder  of  that  organization  which  has  been  seeking  for 
more  than  eighty  years  to  achieve  the  evangelization  of  a  con- 
tinent. 


rage  76 


CHAPTER   X 
A  Strenuous  Career  at  Full  Tide 

IT  is  impossible  to  describe  in  detail  the  many  activities  vnih 
which  Mr.  Peck  was  associated  between  the  years  1830  and 
1835.  In  some  ways  it  was  the  "maximum  period"  in  his 
strenuous  life.  He  worked  literally  night  and  day.  His  efforts 
in  behalf  of  all  good  things  were  ceaseless  and  always  productive. 
There  were  ten  or  twelve  departments  of  work  with  which  he 
was  intimately  associated.  All  of  them  he  carried  forward  with 
a  buoyant  and  impetuous  energy.  He  neglected  none  of  them. 
The  habit  of  neglect  was  foreign  to  his  nature. 

The  more  prominent  interests  were  the  Bible  Society  for 
which  he  wrought  untiringly,  believing  that  the  Bible  in  the 
home  was  the  primary  source  of  power  and  spiritual  energy; 
the  Sunday  School  Union,  in  behalf  of  which  he  was  constantly 
organizing  new  centres  of  interest;  the  Temperance  Society,  in 
whose  interest  he  delivered  many  addresses;  the  Colonization 
Society,  which  owed  more  to  his  advocacy  in  the  States  of  Illi- 
nois and  Missouri  than  to  that  of  any  other  man;  the  system 
of  personal  investigation  and  evangelization,  which  he  still  con- 
tinued with  unabated  zeal  in  the  newly-opened  sections  of  the 
country;  the  Seminary,  of  which  he  was  the  agent,  treasurer, 
and  administrator;  the  common-schools  and  general  education, 
to  which  he  had  given  constant  and  solicitious  attention  from 
the  time  of  his  first  arrival  in  the  West;  the  plan  of  circuit- 
preaching  conducted  entirely  under  his  supervision;  the  weekly 
religious  paper  "The  Pioneer,"  of  which  he  was  the  editor;  the 
social  and  political  problems  connected  with  the  rapid  settlement 
of  the  new  country,  in  the  consideration  of  which  he  was  con- 
stantly consulted  and  for  which  he  was  called  upon  to  write 
thousands  of  communications;  and,  lastly,  his  own  individual 

Page  77 


interest,  the  farm  at  Eock  Spring,  which  with  his  large  family 
and  the  heavy  demand  upon  his  private  purse,  he  was  obliged 
to  cultivate  in  order  to  ''make  both  ends  meet." 

Some  extracts  from  his  diary,  covering  a  few  days  in 
December,  1833,  will  indicate  the  varied  character  of  his  em- 
ployments. The  entries,  omitting  details  and  comments,  are  as 
follows:  "Monday,  December  2nd,  I  started  for  Vandalia,  on 
the  3rd  reached  Vandalia,  and  at  night  attended  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Illinois  State  Bible  Society.  4th:  Most  of  the  day 
was  employed  in  finishing  my  report  of  the  Illinois  Sunday 
School  Union.  In  the  evening  an  anniversary  was  held  in  the 
State  House.  A  large  assembly  was  present  and  much  interest 
excited.  With  prudent  and  energetic  management  it  must  suc- 
ceed. 5th:  Very  busy  through  the  day  in  settling  and  arrang- 
ing business  with  the  Sunday-school  agents  present  and  attend- 
ing meetings  of  the  Board,  committees,  etc.  In  the  evening  the 
anniversary  of  the  Illinois  State  Temperance  Society  was  held. 
Several  addresses  were  delivered,  and  an  impulse  given  to  the 
cause. 

"6th:  Still  very  closely  engaged  in  the  objects  of  the  vari- 
ous benevolent  institutions.  The  annual  meeting  of  the  Illinois 
Institute  of  Education  was  held  today,  and  a  committee  ap- 
pointed to  examine  the  various  documents  in  my  possession, 
digest  and  prepare  a  summary  publication,  and  then  try  to 
arouse  the  people  to  the  subject,  get  up  public  meetings,  have 
addresses  made,  and  thus  produce  general  action  throughout  the 
State.  In  the  evening  the  Colonization  Society  held  a  meeting 
and  adjourned.  7th :  Saturday.  Busily  engaged  thro  the  day  in 
writing.  The  Colonization  Society  again  met,  chose  officers,  and 
entered  upon  his  business.  8th :  Lord's  Day.  In  the  morning  at- 
tended Sunday  School  and  addressed  it  on  the  subject  of  Tem- 
perance; placed  in  the  library  a  copy  of  the  'Temperance  Ee- 
corder.'  Then  I  preached  to  a  large  and  attentive  congregation 
from  1  Thess.,  i,  5.  In  the  evening  I  gave  a  lecture  on  the 
Burma  Mission,  which  was  heard  with  great  interest,  and  the 
Page  78 


next  day  $6.50  was  handed  me  by  Presbyterians  for  that  Mis- 
sion. 

"9th :  Monday.  I  was  induced  to  stay  on  account  of  the 
adjourned  Colonization  meeting  to  be  held  tonight.  The  day 
was  occupied  in  writing  many  letters.  Evening,  the  Coloniza- 
tion Society  met  and  discussed  the  resolutions,  in  which  I  took 
part,  proposing  several  amendments,  which  were  adopted.  A 
committee  was  appointed  to  digest  a  document  of  facts  to  be 
laid  before  the  public.  Of  this  Committee  I  am  one.  Thus  I 
have  an  amount  of  business  of  various  descriptions  thrown  upon 
my  shoulders,  which  will,  with  my  Sunday  school  concerns, 
occupy  me  very  closely  the  whole  winter.  10th  and  11th:  Jour- 
neyed home  and  found  all  well." 

He  makes  the  following  notes  toward  the  end  of  the  month: 
"2 2d.  Preached  the  funeral  discourse  for  the  late  Governor 
Edwards  in  the  court-house,  Edwardsville.  Not  only  was  the 
house  crowded,  but  a  multitude  were  out  of  doors,  the  weather 
being  pleasant.  I  took  a  passage  from  Ezekiel  xi,  12,  for  a  text : 
'Her  strong  rods  were  broken  and  withered,'  in  which  I  por- 
trayed the  qualities  of  an  eminent  statesman.  A  call  was  made 
next  day  for  the  publication  of  the  discourse  with  a  short  memoir 
of  his  life  and  character,  which  will  be  complied  with.  23d  and 
24th :  Spent  in  Belleville,  conversing  widely  as  possible  on  com- 
mon-school education,  and  trying  to  enlist  leading  persons  in  this 
subject. 

"28th :  Saturday.  For  three  days  I  have  been  closely  occu- 
pied in  arranging  my  correspondence  and  other  papers,  and  in 
preparing  articles  for  the  Pioneer  on  education,  temperance,  and 
colonization.  I  have  divers  important  letters  to  answer  and 
much  other  business  which  will  require  my  utmost  efforts  to 
perform.  Lord's  day,  29th :  Preached  at  Lebanon  from  the 
eighth  chapter  of  Romans.  Church  business  followed,  and  sev- 
eral cases  of  difficulty  occurred.  This  church  has  lost  consider- 
able in  order  and  piety  within  a  few  months.  In  the  afternoon 
it  rained  severely,  and  I  rode  home  in  the  storm." 

These  succinct  memoranada,  covering  a  period  of  only  a  few 

Page  79 


days,  form  a  typical  account  of  the  labors  that  ran  through  all 
the  years.  Yet,  though  the  tasks  are  multiplied  and  seem 
exceedingly  varied,  they  bore  toward  one  end,  the  achievement 
of  a  single  purpose,  the  Eedemption  of  the  West. 

He  never  made  the  mistake  into  which  so  many  ministers 
and  missionaries  have  fallen,  of  differentiating  sharply  between 
public  and  philanthropic  interests  on  the  one  hand,  and  dis- 
tinctly spiritual  activities  on  the  other;  and  attending  only  to 
the  latter.  To  him  all  life  was  sacred,  and  to  all  life,  in  its 
diversified  relations,  he  gave  his  sympathies  and  his  efforts.  A 
brief  glance  at  some  of  his  operations  during  this  period  will 
indicate  this. 

All  things  about  him  were  in  a  state  of  flux,  changing  and 
expanding.  Multitudes  of  people,  year  by  year,  were  thronging 
into  this  great  region.  Problems  were  becoming  more  intricate 
and  perplexing.  From  the  very  beginning  he  had  realized  the 
historic  importance  of  this  development.  He  had  talked  with 
numbers  of  the  keener  and  more  intelligent  of  the  old  settlers, 
and  had  made  extensive  notes  on  these  conversations.  He  had 
availed  himself  of  every  opportunity  to  observe  and  record  the 
progress  of  events,  in  the  unfolding  life  of  the  country.  He  had 
collected  manuscripts  and  pamphlets  of  every  sort,  bearing  upon 
the  subject. 

The  best  known  of  the  books  which  he  wrote,  his  "Life  of 
Daniel  Boone,"  was  a  product  of  his  later  years.  In  this  vivid 
sketch  he  recounts  the  struggles  of  the  famous  pioneer  to  sub- 
due the  wilderness.  But  he  had  done  much  literary  work  before 
that.  In  1831  he  issued  the  first  edition  of  his  "Guide  to  Emi- 
grants," which  by  reason  of  its  fulness  and  accuracy  became  a 
text-book  for  prospective  settlers.  It  is  a  mine  of  information. 
In  the  introduction  the  author  tells  us  that  no  portion  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  "is  so  much  the  subject  of  enquiry,  and  ex- 
cites so  particularly  the  attention  of  the  emigrant,  as  the  states 
of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri  and  the  parts  adjacent.  Although 
these  new  states  have  come  into  existence  within  the  past  15 
years,  they  have  been  unparalleled  in  their  growth,  both  in  the 

Page  80 


increase  of  population  and  the  increase  of  property;  but  none 
have  equalled  in  progress  that  of  Illinois  within  the  past  five 
years.  In  1825  Illinois  contained  less  than  75,000  inhabitants. 
In  September,  1830,  they  exceeded  161,000.  In  1824  Missouri 
numbered  a  fraction  over  80,000;  in  1828,  112,000;  and  in  June, 
1830,  140,000.'' 

The  author  states  that  he  had  recently  received  more  than 
a  hundred  letters,  asking  all  kinds  of  questions  "on  subjects 
about  which  a  man  is  anxious  to  inform  himself  before  deciding 
upon  a  removal,  which  may  aid  him  on  his  journey,  and  which 
may  enable  him  successfully  to  surmount  the  difficulties  of  an 
untried  land."  To  answer  these  in  detail  was  impossible.  The 
only  feasible  method  of  meeting  this  ever-increasing  body  of 
requests  and  questions  was  to  write  a  book.  So  he  wrote  it;  and 
its  popularity  was  immediate.  Edition  after  edition  was  pub- 
lished and  sold.  It  is  a  small  volume,  but  its  330  pages  are 
crowded  with  facts. 

The  land  and  the  people,  the  flora  and  fauna,  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  different  localities,  the  climate  and  soil  in 
the  several  counties  and  sections  are  carefully  described.  The 
author  tells  how  farming  is  conducted ;  how  buildings  are  erected ; 
what  diseases  are  prevalent;  what  industries  may  be  made  most 
profitable ;  what  prices  are  asked  for  land,  for  articles  of  food  and 
for  clothing.  He  indicates  also  the  educational  and  religious  con- 
ditions in  different  parts,  and,  in  an  Appendix,  sketehes  the  route 
of  a  proposed  "Great  Railway,"  the  "Atlantic  and  Michigan,"  by 
the  building  of  which  the  sea-coast  cities  and  states  would  be  con- 
nected with  Illinois,  Missouri,  Michigan  and  the  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory. He  says  in  closing  that  if  this  dream  could  be  realized, 
the  rich  products  of  the  wide-spread  Mississippi  Valley  "would 
be  driven  to  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  with  far  greater  speed 
than  if  wafted  by  the  wings  of  the  wind;  and  the  rapid  return 
of  commercial  equivalents  would  spread  life  and  prosperity  over 
the  face  of  the  finest  and  fairest  portion  of  the  habitable  world." 

This  book  became  what  its  title  indicates  as  its  purpose.  It 
was  an  illuminating  and  most  instructive  guide  to  intending 

Page  81 


emigrants  amongst  the  older  states  of  the  East  and  South,  and 
as  well  in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland.  But,  while  he  never 
derived  large  pecuniary  returns  from  the  wide  circulation  which 
the  "Guide"  attained,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  as  time 
went  on  that  it  was  instrumental  in  bringing  hosts  of  intelligent 
settlers  into  the  great  Western  country.  As  the  author  was 
usually  in  need  of  ready  money  and  disliked  financial  "dicker- 
ing," he  sold  the  copyright  of  this  as  soon  as  it  was  ready  for 
publication.    He  did  the  same  in  the  case  of  his  other  books. 

Mr.  Peck's  advocacy  of  temperance  principles  was  definite 
and  radical.  In  those  days  multitudes  of  church  members  and 
many  preachers  were  accustomed  to  indulge  more  or  less  in 
intoxicants  "for  the  stomach's  sake"  or  for  other  reasons.  Mr. 
Peck  early  became  a  total  abstainer  and  a  preacher  of  prohibi- 
tion. In  addressing  new  converts  he  was  accustomed  to  exhort 
them  especially  to  three  things :  1,  to  abstain  entirely  from  all 
ardent  spirits ;  2,  to  perform  family  prayer  daily  and  to  instruct 
their  children;  3,  to  make  it  a  conscientious  business  to  support 
tlie  Gospel. 

In  writing  to  the  "Baptist  Missionary  Magazine"  he  says, 
under  date  of  April  25,  1832 :  "I  have  this  day  addressed  be- 
tween 2,000  and  3,000  people  standing  near  the  gallows  in 
Green  county — my  whole  discourse  being  directed  against  the 
practice  of  drinking  ardent  spirits;  this  being  prominently  the 
vice  of  the  unhappy  culprit  who  was  about  to  be  launched  into 
eternity!  This  he  confessed  was  the  cause  of  all  the  wretched- 
ness. My  practice  in  such  addresses  is  to  attack  the  popular 
habit  of  drinking  ardent  spirits,  wines,  etc.,  as  laying  the  foun- 
dation for  intemperate  habits.  In  the  evening  I  again  addressed 
the  people  on  the  same  subject  in  the  Court  House." 

The  following  extract  from  his  journal,  written  at  about 
the  same  time  as  the  above,  shows  how  vigorously  he  condemns 
the  use  of  strong  drink  by  church-members.  Speaking  of  a  church 
which  he  visited  in  the  course  of  his  journeys,  he  says :  "A  case 
of  discipline  came  before  the  church,  which  it  was  supposed 
would  result  in  the  exclusion  of  the  offender.    He  is  a  physician. 

Page  82 


and  a  man  of  talents,  but  has  for  many  years  been  addicted  to 
intemperance.  Two  years  since  he  professed  religion  and  united 
with  this  church,  and  tliis  is  the  third  time  he  has  been  subject 
to  church  censure,  and  now  under  aggravated  circumstances. 

"The  brethren  present  desired  me  to  labor  with  him.  I  first 
conversed  with  him  in  the  presence  of  two  or  three  brethren,  till 
he  appeared  somewhat  humble — ^then  I  had  him  make  a  confes- 
sion before  the  whole  congregation  and  pledge  himself  to  total 
abstinence  in  future.  I  then  gave  him  a  solemn  admonition, 
telling  him  that  if  he  again  indulged  in  the  use  of  ardent  spirits 
he  was  ruined.  Then  the  church  first,  and  afterwards  the  whole 
assembly  were  addressed — the  51st  Psalm  L.  M.  Avas  then  sung — 
the  hand  of  fellowship  given  by  all  the  church  as  a  token  of  his 
restoration,  at  the  close  of  which  he  knelt,  and  for  him  prayer 
was  offered. 

"Nearly  every  person  present  (and  the  house  was  crowded; 
among  the  rest  were  the  Governor  and  the  ex-Governor  of  the 
State)  was  in  tears.  I  mention  these  particulars  as  a  specimen 
of  the  course  I  am  resolved  to  pursue  with  intemperate  profes- 
sors. Drunkenness  has  been  a  crying  sin  in  the  Baptist  churches 
of  the  West.  In  this  region  we  are  resolved  to  have  but  one  time 
of  labor  with  a  drunkard,  and  that  shall  be  thorough." 

Mr.  Peck's  attention  to  other  matters  of  economic  and  public 
welfare  did  not  for  one  moment  divert  his  mind  from  the  work 
of  the  Seminary,  and  of  education  in  general.  He  had  been  con- 
vinced for  some  time  past  that  the  school  was  not  in  the  right 
locality  for  a  broad  and  productive  work.  Yet  the  attempt  to 
make  a  change  without  able  financial  backing  seemed  a  formid- 
able task. 

When  Dr.  Going  made  hib  tour  of  exploration,  and  Mr. 
Peck  took  him  on  that  strenuous  three-months'  horse-back  ride, 
the  two  men  talked  frequently  concerning  the  matter.  They 
visited  various  sites,  deemed  eligilile  for  the  planting  of  a  school, 
including  that  at  Upper  Alton,  which  was  finally  selected.  They 
came  to  quite  emphatic  agreements  upon  four  points:  that  the 
Seminary  must  be  located  at  a  central  and  strategic  place;  that 

Page  83 


Eock  Spring  was  not  such  a  place ;  that  Alton  was  such  a  place, 
and  that  an  Education  Society  should  be  formed  in  the  east,  to 
aid  financially  the  work  of  this  school  and  any  others  which 
might  be  established. 

So,  as  a  result  of  many  months  of  careful  deliberation  and 
personal  conferences  with  men  of  influence,  it  was  decided  that 
the  Eock  Spring  school  should  be  closed,  with  a  view  to  its  re- 
opening at  Upper  Alton.  A  sightly  location  was  chosen  and  a 
tract  of  land  purchased.  Alton  was  thought  at  that  time  to  possess 
advantages  for  general  intercourse  superior  to  those  of  any  spot 
in  the  State.  It  was  on  the  Mississippi,  one  mile  from  its  junc- 
tion with  the  Missouri,  where  the  commerce  of  the  widespread 
regions  of  the  north-east,  north  and  north-west  must  arrive. 
The  main  artery  of  traffic  from  all  the  northern  portions  of 
Illinois  passed  through  this  place.  It  was  expected  that  the  great 
National  Eoad  then  building  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  toward 
the  capital  of  Missouri,  would  pass  at  or  near  Alton.  It  had  the 
best  landing  for  steamboats  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  plans  were  in  progTess  to  make  it  the  seat  of  government 
for  the  state. 

Alton  Seminary,  which  was  soon  renamed  Alton  College 
and  afterwards  Shurtleff  College,  was  opened  to  students  in 
September,  1832.  Pending  the  erection  of  a  suitable  building, 
the  town-house  was  occupied  by  the  new  school.  Eev.  Hubbel 
Loomis,  a  scholarly  man  and  a  teacher  of  long  experience,  was 
elected  Principal.  Mr.  Peck  Avas  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  and  as  usual  the  leading  spirit  in  the  enterprise.  Finan- 
cial problems  were  the  gi*eatest  drawback,  as  is  always  the  case 
with  denominational  schools  in  their  infancy — and  subsequently. 
An  Academic  Hall  was  built  and  used  chiefly  for  classroom  pur- 
poses. Mr.  Loomis  was  commissioned  to  search  the  eastern 
states  for  funds.  He  spent  six  months  in  arduous  canvassing 
and  returned  with  $490,  net.  This  was  at  once  used  to  liquidate 
in  part  the  debts  already  contracted.  Things  went  on  in  strug- 
gling fashion  for  two  or  three  years.  Grand  work  was  done  by 
Page  84 


devoted  teachers  in  the  school,  but  the  trustees  were  feeble  and 
inefficient. 

The  outlook  was  disheartening.  After  serious  deliberation, 
the  trustees  turned  to  Mr.  Peck  and  urged  him  to  canvass  the 
east  again  in  the  hope  that  he  might  succeed  where  Mr.  Loomis 
had  failed.  So  in  April,  1835,  he  left  home.  His  mission  was 
of  critical  importance,  for  the  destinies  of  Baptist  education  in 
Illinois  hung  in  the  balance.  His  trip  took  seven  months.  It 
was  similar  to  the  one  he  had  made  nine  years  before.  By  ser- 
mons, addresses,  the  circulation  of  printed  literature  and  num- 
bers of  private  conferences  he  sought  to  arouse  the  people. 

Dr.  Going  had  not  forgotten  his  obligations  in  relation  to 
the  matter.  Through  his  influence  there  had  been  organized  in 
Boston  two  years  before,  the  "Western  Baptist  Educational 
Association,"  for  the  purpose  of  "helping  to  preserve  the  West 
by  educating  its  inhabitants  and  teaching  them  the  fear  of  the 
Lord."  Mr.  Peck  was  able  to  make  use  of  this  body  in  connec- 
tion with  his  campaign.  Shortly  before  his  return  he  secured 
from  Dr.  Benjamin  Shurtleff  a  subscription  of  $10,000,  con- 
ditional on  securing  a  charter  provision  changing  the  name  of 
the  institution.  The  financial  results  of  the  expedition  were 
eminently  satisfactory.  In  cash  and  good  subscriptions  about 
$20,000  were  obtained. 

During  the  absence  of  the  special  agent  the  trustees  had 
held  only  a  single  meeting.  They  had  not  even  replied  to  his 
letters.  They  had  not  troubled  themselves  with  doubts  or 
anxieties,  they  had  trusted  their  leader  fully,  and  in  his  absence 
had  dropped  the  agency  work  in  Illinois,  the  building  operations 
and  all  other  responsibilities,  and  had  dwelt  serenely  in  the  tents 
of  ease.  His  return,  however,  galvanized  them  into  awakened 
activity.  His  hands  were  full  of  money,  and  his  brain  full  of 
plans.  The  college  had  been  saved,  and  its  history  of  faithful 
and  aggressive  work  now  commenced. 


Page  85 


CHAPTER   XI 
III  Health  and  an  Expanding  Field 

IMMEDIATELY  after  his  return  from  the  Atlantic  States, 
Mr.  Peck  settled  down  at  Upper  Alton  for  a  period  of  two 
months.  He  was  sadly  needed.  He  occupied  a  room  in 
the  newly-built  dormitory,  and  began  straightening  out  the  tan- 
gles, inspiring  the  teachers  with  confidence,  shaking  up  the 
trustees  and  making  all  things  move  with  vigorous  efficiency. 
During  the  early  months  of  the  following  year,  1836,  in  addition 
to  his  ordinary  duties,  his  editorial  work  and  the  demands  of  the 
College,  he  completed  and  published  a  new  map  of  Illinois,  a 
revision  and  enlargement  of  one  he  had  formerly  made  and  re- 
made, and  issued  a  new  edition  of  his  "Guide  for  Emigrants." 

In  the  spring  he  was  busy  removing  his  newspaper,  with 
the  printing  plant,  from  Rock  Spring  to  Lower  Alton.  About 
the  end  of  May  he  was  stricken  with  billions  fever.  After  a 
very  critical  illness  he  slowly  regained  his  strength.  From 
this  time  onward,  however,  his  health  was  never  robust,  and  at 
times  he  was  laid  aside  for  long  periods.  This,  to  a  man  of  his 
tremendous  energy,  was  a  severe  affliction.  In  the  service  of 
God  and  man  he  had  made  heavy  demands  upon  his  life-force, 
and  the  inevitable  effects  he  was  now  beginning  to  feel. 

On  the  last  day  of  June  the  first  number  of  "The  Western 
Pioneer"  appeared.  This  was  simply  a  continuation  of  the 
paper  he  had  edited  for  some  years,  but  its  new  location  rendered 
advisable  a  change  of  name,  especially  in  view  of  new  features 
to  be  henceforth  embodied  in  its  columns.  In  August  there  was 
organized  at  Springfield  through  his  efforts,  the  "Illinois  Bap- 
tist Education  Society,"  the  object  of  which  was  to  aid  finan- 
cially and  otherwise,  such  students  for  the  ministry  as  should 
Page  '86 


be  deemed  worthy  of  assistance.    This  society,  after  eighty  years 
of  history,  continues  to-day  its  beneficent  activities. 

In  Sejitember  he  was  prostrated  by  iUness  during  a  tour  in 
Missouri.  For  two  weeks  he  was  confined  to  his  bed.  When 
he  had  only  partially  recovered  he  started  toward  home  but  was 
again  attacked,  and  lay  sick  for  ten  days  at  the  house  of  a  friend. 
The  rest  of  the  year  was  spent  in  preaching,  editorial  work,  the 
administration  of  the  College,  and  general  missionary  oversight. 
Early  in  1837  he  prepared  two  lectures,  afterwards  published, 
on  the  "Early  History  of  Illinois."  These  he  delivered  at 
Vandalia,  then  the  capital,  before  the  members  of  the  legislature. 

That  a  certain  ancient  irritation  persisted,  in  connection 
with  his  itinerant  labors,  is  evident  from  the  following  note  in 
his  diary  during  a  tour  through  portions  of  Missouri :  "Called 
on  a  Baptist  preacher  by  the  name  of  Stevens,  a  determined 
anti-missionary.  "Was  treated  kindly  by  him,  but  he  said  very 
decidedly  that  he  would  have  done  the  same  for  old  friends  if 
we  had  been  gamblers.  Such  were  his  notions  of  all  mission- 
aries and  he  preaches  this  boldly.  He  is  a  man  of  talents  and 
a  good  speaker."  The  "antis"  were  evidently  just  as  bitter  in 
1837  as  in  1817,  but  their  influence  had  greatly  diminished. 
After  this  they  remained  at  a  standstill,  both  in  numbers  and 
in  power;  while  the  growth  of  the  "regular"  Baptists  was  steady 
and  swift. 

During  this  year,  a  period  of  financial  peril  and  panic 
throughout  America,  the  Home  Mission  Board  threatened  to 
discontinue  the  amounts  they  had  hitherto  contributed  toward 
the  support  of  the  missionaries  or  circuit-preachers  in  the  West. 
To  Peck  this  drastic  action,  due  to  the  acute  pecuniary  distress 
of  the  Board,  meant  the  breaking  of  faith  on  their  part,  and 
suffering  or  perhaps  starvation  to  the  faithful  missionaries. 
So,  laying  aside  all  his  large  and  important  tasks,  he  devoted 
his  time  to  a  personal  canvass  of  the  churches  of  Illinois  and 
Missouri ;  and  thus  succeeded  in  securing  enough  money  to  make 
up  the  deficiency  caused  by  the  temporary  withdrawal  of  the 
remittances  hitherto  supplied  by  the  Society. 

Page  87 


His  own  circumstances  were  embarrassing  and  caused  him 
great  anxiety.  He  had  difficulty  in  obtaining  money  enough  to 
keep  his  family  from  feeling  the  pinch  of  hunger,  while  the 
deficits  on  the  paper  were  heavy.  So  *'betweentimes"  he  labored 
on  his  farm,  procuring  by  this  means  a  satisfactory  harvest. 
The  Bible  and  Sunday-school  agencies  he  had  resigned  some 
time  before,  since  the  State  Societies  which  he  had  organized 
were  carrying  forward  his  activities  through  local  officers.  He 
had  rendered  invaluable  service  through  his  years  of  toil  in  secur- 
ing this  effective  and  permanent  result.  His  time  was  still  more 
than  occupied,  however,  with  the  other  vital  interests  which  he 
had  planted,  and  which  were  developing  under  his  care. 

Central  in  all  his  efforts,  as  of  old,  Avas  his  preaching.  As 
the  years  went  on  he  became  less  doctrinal  and  more  evangelistic. 
Although  conversions  had  always  attended  and  followed  his 
ministry  he  now  saw  more  abundant  and  gracious  ingatherings. 
During  the  autumn  of  1837  he  was  engaged  in  fruitful  revival 
meetings  in  Rock  Spring,  Edwardsville,  and  the  Bethel  church. 
His  experiences  seem  to  have  quickened  his  love  for  work  in  the 
local  parish.  Frequently  he  had  been  urged  to  accept  pastorates 
but  had  always  promptly  declined.  Now,  however,  he  agreed 
to  take  the  pastorate  of  the  church  at  Rock  Spring,  with  the 
stipulation  that  he  was  to  devote  only  a  quarter  of  his  time  to  the 
field. 

The  terms  of  this  agreement  were  indicated  with  his  usual 
care  of  details.  He  agreed  to  visit  each  family  of  the  church  at 
least  once  a  quarter,  and  to  preach  three  or  four  times  each 
month.  This  did  not  mean  once  every  Sunday,  but  three  or 
four  preaching  services  on  two  successive  days  of  one  week  in 
the  month.  This  method  was  customary  in  those  days.  It  is 
still  followed  in  country  districts  where  a  minister  will  often 
hold  the  pastorate  of  four  scattered  churches,  preaching  at  each 
place  on  one  Saturday  and  Sunday,  and  visiting  the  parishioners 
during  the  week  preceding  or  following  such  appointment. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  State  Convention  he  was  appointed 
the  General  Agent  of  that  body.  He  combined  with  this  office 
Page  88 


the  supervision  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Home  Mission  Society 
in  the  Western  field.  This  had  been  an  unofficial  part  of  his 
work  for  some  years;  but  he  now  resumed  his  former  duty  of 
direct  and  immediate  supervision.  A  few  months  before  this 
he  had  refused  the  general  agency  of  the  American  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  for  all  the  iSTorthwestern  States. 

A  new  country,  very  fertile  and  promising,  was  being  rap- 
idly settled  in  Northeastern  Missouri  and  Iowa.  With  his 
perennial  zest  for  pioneering  he  made  two  long  tours  through 
this  section  in  the  year  1838,  each  occupying  about  six  weeks. 
He  set  down  in  his  journal  elaborate  memoranda,  and  made  a 
full  report  of  bis  ministration  to  the  Home  Mission  Society. 
He  found  that  the  character  of  the  immigration  was  above  the 
average,  consisting  for  the  most  part  of  a  substantial,  thrifty, 
Protestant  class  of  people.  Many  of  them  were  Baptists,  already 
gathering  into  small  groups  as  churches.  They  were  busy  erect- 
ing buildings  for  worship  in  various  localities.  In  this  work, 
and  in  awakening  and  stimulating  religious  activity  of  every 
sort,  he  imparted  freely  and  enthusiastically  his  counsel  and  help. 
Toward  the  end  of  the  year  he  was  very  ill  for  two  months,  and 
lay  for  some  time  between  life  and  death,  suffering  greatly. 

Increased  facilities  for  travel,  together  with  a  completer 
organization  of  churches  and  associations  in  Illinois  and  Mis- 
souri, caused  a  gradual  change  in  Mr.  Peck's  methods  of  mission- 
ary work.  They  became  less  intensive  though  even  more 
widespread  than  before.  His  interest  in  Northern  Illinois  and 
Iowa  extended  his  labors  in  one  direction.  The  removal  of  his 
paper,  the  "Western  Pioneer,"  to  Kentucky,  and  its  union  with 
the  "Baptist  Banner,"  in  1839,  elicited  his  sympathies  for  the 
people  of  that  state,  so  he  was  frequently  called  southward. 
He  was  invited  to  give  practical  advice  in  church  matters  and 
to  adjust  difficulties.  He  made  several  tours  in  Kentucky, 
preaching  where  opportunity  offered  and  delivering  lectures  on 
the  subjects  of  temperance  and  colonization.  He  was  also  in 
close  fellowship  with  the  new  editor  of  the  "Banner  and  Pio- 

rage  SO 


neer,"  giving  him  the  advantage  of  his  wisdom  in  hearty  and 
generous  fashion. 

He  made  four  long  journe3^s  among  the  churches  in  the  year 
1839,  one  in  Kentucky,  two  in  Missouri  and  one  in  Central  and 
Northern  Illinois.  In  the  course  of  this  last  trip  he  made  his 
first  visit  to  Chicago.  He  was  the  guest  of  Rev.  I.  T.  Hinton, 
pastor  of  the  First  Church,  and  preached  several  times  in  the 
growing  young  town.  He  also  visited  the  Fox  River  Association, 
in  session  at  Elgin,  speaking  there  out  of  his  rich  experience  on 
the  "Origin,  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Baptists  of  Illinois." 

From  two  of  these  four  expeditions  he  returned  home  utterly 
exhausted  and  suffering  keenly.  On  October  29,  1839,  he  writes 
in  his  journal :  "After  much  serious  reflection  I  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  I  must  give  up  all  travelling  and  all  mission- 
ary agency.  I  have  now  made  trials  for  four  seasons,  and 
cannot  sustain  the  fatigue,  labor  and  exhaustion.  My  liver  is 
permanently  affected,  my  constitution  seriously  impaired,  and 
I  must  retire  to  a  more  quiet  and  sedentary  life." 

Two  days  later  he  makes  the  following  entry:  "This  day  I 
am  fifty  years  old — turned  half  a  century.  When  I  look  back, 
how  short  and  frail  a  thing  is  life  !  Not  only  my  years  are  gone, 
but  my  physical  powers  have  failed  greatly  within  a  few  years 
past.  I  am  now  an  old  man,  and  ought  to  regard  myself  as 
such,  and  be  looking  every  day  for  my  great  change.  0  Lord, 
help  me  to  consecrate  myself  to  Thy  work  and  cause.  Help  me 
to  live  the  rest  of  my  feeble  life  to  Thy  glory."  These  words 
sound  strangely  pessimistic;  but  they  are  like  the  roaring  of  a 
lion  who  finds  himself  wounded.  More  eager  than  ever  for  the 
service  of  his  Master,  he  chafed  at  the  limitations  of  ill-health, 
and  the  constantly  recurring  attacks  which  spoiled  his  energy. 

That  he  fought  like  a  hero  in  the  midst  of  these  handicaps 
is  shown  by  his  annual  Report  to  the  Home  Mission  Society, 
compiled  at  the  close  of  this  year  1839.  He  had  written  during 
the  year  294  letters  on  missionary  business,  visited  and  labored 
continuously  in  seventeen  different  churches,  attended  four 
associations,  preached  on  the  mission  field  sixty-four  sermons, 
Page  90 


delivered  thirty-eight  lectures  and  addresses  and  travelled  3526 
miles,  1116  by  steamboat  and  stage  and  21:10  on  horsbaek  or 
in  his  carriage. 

This  is  strictly  and  solely  a  report  of  his  distinctly  mission- 
ary labors.  For  instance,  the  number  of  letters  written,  though 
it  seems  large,  was  only  a  tithe  of  his  entire  correspondence. 
In  the  first  two  months  of  this  same  year  he  wrote  225  letters, 
every  one  with  his  own  hand,  and  many  of  them  voluminous. 
He  always  made  a  written  digest  of  all  his  letters.  These  man- 
uscript digests  contained  the  substance  of  the  communications 
and  he  kept  them  for  reference  purposes.  They  were  written 
on  foolscap,  and  bound  together  at  intervals;  the  whole  con- 
stituting after  a  time  a  bulky  pile  of  volumes. 

Acting  upon  the  advice  which  he  gave  to  himself  on  his 
fiftieth  birthday,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  pastorate  of  the  church 
at  Belleville,  Illinois,  for  "quarter  time."  Thus  haK  his  time 
was  to  be  devoted  to  local  church  work.  Some  months  before 
this  he  had  declined  a  call  from  the  flourishing  church  at  Lex- 
ington, Ky.,  to  succeed  the  well-known  and  popular  Dr.  Noel, 
who  had  just  died.  He  entered  upon  his  duties  at  Belleville 
with  characteristic  earnestness,  visiting  all  the  families  of  his 
flock  and  crowding  the  church  with  people  who  came  to  hear 
his  course  of  lectures  on  Sacred  History. 

In  June  1840  he  attended  the  Convention  of  "Western  Bap- 
tists in  Louisville.  He  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  committee 
to  draw  up  a  constitution  for  that  body.  This  was  done,  and 
the  Convention  ordered  it  printed,  and  referred  it  to  the  con- 
vention and  general  associations  of  the  western  states,  final 
action  to  be  taken  the  following  year.  At  a  later  meeting  of 
the  convention  he  was  asked  to  revise  the  "Social  Hymn  Book," 
then  in  use  amongst  the  churches  of  the  West  and  South,  "by 
removing  the  doggerel  and  inserting  good  hymns  in  their  places." 
It  is  a  testimony  to  the  "infinite  variety"  of  this  versatile  man 
that  he  accepted  the  appointment  and  carried  the  task  through 
successfully. 

In  the  autumn  of  1840  he  found  time,  in  addition  to  his 

Page  91 


other  manifold  duties,  to  take  the  United  States  Census  in  St. 
Clair  County.  Some  weeks  later  he  accepted  the  oversight  of 
the  St.  Louis  church  for  "part  time ;"  the  late  pastor,  Eev.  R.  E. 
Pattison,  D.D.,  afterward  president  of  Colby  University,  having 
resigned.  In  June  he  again  attended  the  Convention  of  West- 
ern Baptists  at  Louisville.  It  was  a  stormy  session.  Some  of 
the  delegates  were  determined  to  severe  connection  with  the 
Eastern  Societies  and  establish  independent  missionary  organ- 
izations. Mr.  Peck  opposed  this  policy;  but  finally  succeeded  in 
effecting  a  compromise.  By  his  personal  influence  he  secured 
the  establishment  of  a  "Western  Baptist  Publication  and  Sun- 
day-school Societ}^,"  which  was  pledged  to  conduct  its  enter- 
prises in  strict  cooperation  with  that  in  Philadelphia.  In 
the  matter  of  home  and  foreign  missions  the  West  remained  in 
the  same  relations  as  before  with  the  East. 

When  the  question  of  the  appointment  of  an  executive 
agent  for  the  new  society  was  broached  the  thoughts  of  the 
leaders  naturally  turned  toward  the  man  who  had  effected  the 
adjustment  of  this  vital  matter.  He  realized  the  importance 
of  the  situation,  but  the  precarious  condition  of  his  health  and 
the  fact  that  all  of  his  active  life  had  been  spent  in  another 
field,  bade  him  refuse.  For  three  months  he  considered  the 
question  with  profound  attention,  consulting  with  the  strong 
men  of  the  denomination  regarding  it.  Finally,  toward  the  end 
of  September,  he  accepted  the  position,  being  persuaded  that  the 
work  required  him  rather  than  any  other  man  at  that  critical 
juncture. 

He  resigned  liis  various  pastorates.  In  October  he  attended 
the  Illinois  Convention,  and  was  elected  President,  besides  being 
given  abundant  assurance  of  the  love  and  esteem  in  which  he 
was  held  by  the  Baptist  people  of  the  state.  In  November  he 
arrived  in  Louisville  to  take  up  his  new  work.  Within  a  month, 
he  was  deeply  immersed  in  plans  and  labors.  He  had  forgotten 
his  weakness  of  body.  He  was  as  a  young  man,  just  entering 
upon  his  first  campaign  for  God. 

Page  92 


CHAPTER   XII 
Serving  the  Publication  Society 

ME.  PECK  is  regarded  by  students  of  Baptist  history  as 
the  real  founder  of  two  of  our  three  great  missionary 
organizations,  the  Home  Mission  Society  and  the 
Publication  Society.  To  him  even  more  than  to  Dr.  Jonathan 
Going  is  due  the  honor  of  setting  in  motion  the  forces  which 
created  the  former,  for  he  inspired  Dr.  Going,  as  he  did  many 
other  men  of  vision,  with  a  noble  ambition  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  Western  country;  and  as  a  direct  result  of  his  serious  per- 
sonal conferences  and  fiery  public  appeals,  the  Home  Mission 
Society  was  created. 

It  was  also  his  task  and  privilege  to  establish  the  faltering 
and  incompetent  Publication  Society  in  Philadelphia  upon  a 
solid  basis  and  to  give  it  a  permanent  place  in  the  thoughts  and 
affections  of  the  Baptist  people  throughout  the  land.  The 
four  and  a  half  years  which  he  spent  in  advocacy  of  publication 
and  Sunday-school  work  in  the  North  and  South  vrere  noteworthy 
in  the  history  of  our  denomination.  He  began  his  service  for 
the  Western  Publication  Society  by  a  swift  and  awakening  cam- 
paign amongst  the  Southern  States,  which  were  really  its  chief 
constituency.  He  swept  through  State  after  State,  spending 
more  than  three  months  on  this  tour. 

Keturning  from  New  Orleans  by  easy  st-ages  to  St.  Louis, 
and  visiting  many  churches  l)y  the  way,  he  took  time  to  see  his 
family  at  Rock  Spring  and  the  College  at  Alton.  Then  in 
obedience  to  the  demands  of  the  situation,  and  in  view  of  the 
strained  relations  between  the  East  and  West  in  publication  and 
Sunday-school  policies,  he  decided  to  undertake  a  journey  to  the 
Atlantic  Coast.  It  was  his  third  pilgrimage  eastward  in  twenty- 
five  years.     Travelling  by  way  of  Pittsburgh  and  Philadelphia, 

Page  93 


he  arrived  in  New  York  early  in  May,  1842,  in  time  to  attend  the 
national  anniversaries,  and  to  make  an  impassioned  appeal  before 
the  Publication  Society,  urging  the  vigorous  support  of  minis- 
ters, Sunday-schools  and  churches  in  the  south  and  west. 

He  then  returned  to  Philadelphia  and  met  the  members  of 
the  Board.  To  these  men,  rather  feeble  and  indolent  in  the 
larger  matters  of  the  kingdom,  he  laid  down  the  law  in  splendid 
fashion.  He  told  them  that  they  had  been  inharmonious  and 
cantankerous.  Petty  jealousies  and  rivalries  about  offices  and 
minor  matters  had  baulked  their  efficiency.  He  urged  them  to 
exert  their  powers  for  the  accomplishment  of  bigger  things. 
They  applauded  his  sentiments  and  went  about  their  narrow 
tasks  on  the  morrow,  as  though  they  had  not  heard  him.  Never- 
theless he  had  hopes  that  they  might  still  be  roused  to  action, 
for  he  writes :  "Yet,  with  sufficient  effort  and  patient  perserver- 
ance,  the  Society  can  be  made  to  live." 

He  went  to  New  York  and  Boston,  preaching  many  times 
in  those  cities  and  on  the  way.  He  spoke  at  the  annual  meetings 
of  the  Northern  Baptist  Education  Society,  and  the  New  Eng- 
land Sunday-school  Union.  He  gave  also  a  powerful  address 
before  the  Massachusetts  Baptist  Convention  on  "The  Effect  of 
Missionary  Operations  in  the  Western  Valley,"  and  attended  a 
dozen  other  associations  and  conventions,  speaking  at  all  of  them. 

His  whole  object  was  to  enlist  the  sympathies  and  efforts  of 
the  well-placed  and  highly-favored  people  of  the  East  in  the 
magnificent  opportunities  which  the  South  and  West  presented. 
Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Boston  had  been  singularly  apathet- 
ic with  regard  to  the  needs  of  the  newer  cities  of  Louisville, 
New  Orleans,  St.  Louis  and  Chicago,  and  all  the  territory  that 
lay  about  them.  In  consequence  of  this  attitude  the  great  and 
growing  cities  of  these  "regions  beyond"  desired  to  do  their  own 
work,  and  to  separate  themselves  completely  from  the  unproduc- 
tive efforts  of  eastern  men.  It  was  the  whole-souled  jiurpose  of 
the  Pioneer  missionary  to  bring  together  the  two  elements  and 
to  effect  the  organization  of  a  national  Society  that  should 
diffuse  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  of  religious  literature,  and 
Page  94 


thus  make  the  Baptist  hody  more  intelligently  harmonious  in 
matters  of  faith  and  practice. 

To  this  object  he  devoted  himself  for  six  months.  He  was 
still  the  general  agent  of  the  Western  Society,  but  by  the  terms 
of  the  contract,  he  was  under  the  direction  of  the  Philadelphia 
Society.  It  was  an  embarrassing  situation.  He  Avas  harshly 
criticized  in  the  paper  on  whicli  his  own  name  appeared  as  one 
of  the  editors,  the  "Banner  and  Pioneer,"  because  he  had,  accord- 
ing to  it's  view,  abandoned  the  Western  agency,  in  which  he 
was  employed,  for  labor  in  behalf  of  the  Society  in  Philadelphia. 

Thoroughly  convinced  in  his  own  mind  that  a  creditable 
publication  society,  for  the  issuance  of  Bibles,  tracts,  pamphlets 
and  religious  literature  of  every  kind,  was  a  necessity,  Mr.  Peck 
kept  steadily  on  his  way.  He  had  a  diflBcult  piece  of  work  to 
do.  The  other  two  great  missionary  organizations  filled  the 
thoughts  of  the  people.  They  could  not  see  the  need  for  a  third 
society  of  large  dimensions;  the  little  establishment  at  Phila- 
delphia was  to  their  way  of  thinking  quite  sufficient,  and  if  the 
West  and  South  now  had  another  society  of  their  own  so  much 
the  better.  By  his  ceaseless  effort,  in  associations,  churches  and 
personal  interviews,  Mr.  Peck  did  much  to  change  their  point 
of  view. 

After  a  second  conference  with  the  Board  in  Philadelphia, 
in  which  he  again  urged  the  adoption  of  a  broad  and  inclusive 
programme,  he  turned  his  face  homeward.  After  his  arrival, 
early  in  November,  he  attended  to  many  matters  which  had 
accumulated  during  his  absence;  consulted  with  the  college 
authorities  at  Alton;  preached  and  lectured  in  all  directions; 
made  a  voluminous  written  report  to  the  Philadelphia  Board, 
embodying  his  plan  for  the  establishment  of  the  Publication 
Soeiet}'  on  a  permanent  basis ;  and  wrote  hundreds  of  letters  to 
leading  men  of  the  denomination  on  the  subject  of  Bible  and 
publication  work.  He  also  brought  together  at  this  time  a 
large  number  of  pamphlets  and  manuscript  records,  containing 
sketches  of   Baptist  churches,  ministers   and   prominent  men. 

Page  95 


He  did  this  with  an  eye  to  the  possibility  of  future  publication 
of  the  history  of  the  denomination  in  the  West  and  South. 

Fortunately  or  unfortunately — probably  the  latter — ^he  had 
become  enamored  of  the  spirit  of  prophecy  sometime  before 
this.  A  sermon  which  his  friend  Mr.  Hinton  preached  at  the 
Convention  in  Louisville  in  1840  on  "Signs  of  the  Second 
Coming"  aroused  his  interest  in  the  subject.  He  made  a  care- 
ful study  of  figures  and  types  and  prophecies,  and  prepared  a 
series  of  lectures  on  the  subject,  which  he  delivered  in  various 
places.  The  time  was  not  wholly  wasted,  however,  for  his  mind 
was  relieved  by  those  speculations  from  the  heavier  and  more 
exacting  duties  of  his  daily  life.  His  curiosity  in  these  matters 
seems  to  have  lasted  for  three  or  four  years.  The  range  and 
versatility  of  his  powers  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  he  wrote, 
at  about  this  period  in  his  life,  an  elaborate  drama,  entitled 
"Tecumthe"  and  had  it  staged  by  the  students  at  Alton,  and 
acted  at  one  of  the  public  exhibitions  of  Commencement  week. 

In  February,  1843,  Mr.  Peck  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  the  American  Baptist  Publication  Society.  He  had 
been  asked  beforehand  whether  he  would  accept  the  position 
and  on  what  terms.  In  answer,  he  had  set  forth  the  conditions 
of  his  acceptance  in  a  blunt  and  business-like  way.  The  denom- 
ination, he  had  said,  must  be  inspired  with  confidence  in  the 
management  and  efficiency  of  the  Society.  Economy  in  inciden- 
tals must  be  rigorously  practiced.  A  searching  investigation  into 
every  department  of  the  organization  must  at  once  be  carried 
out,  with  a  view  to  reconstructive  policies.  The  members  of 
the  Board  must  pledge  themselves  to  cooperate  actively  with  the 
Secretary.  The  duties  of  the  Secretary,  as  he  saw  them,  he  care- 
fully set  forth,  and  in  describing  them  he  pictured  no  idler's 
paradise. 

The  new  Secretary  arrived  in  Philadelphia  on  the  17th  of 
April  and  began  the  next  day  an  intimate  inspection  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Society.  His  first  public  appearance  was  a  week 
or  so  later  at  the  Baptist  Anniversaries  at  Albany,  where  he 
presented  the  annual  report  of  the  Society,  prepared  by  his 
Page  96 


predecessor,  Keturning  to  his  work  lie  gave  himself  heart  aud 
soul  for  five  weeks  to  the  lahor  of  mastering  the  tasks  and  prob- 
lems of  his  office.  His  family  had  remained  in  the  West,  his 
sons  conducting  the  farm,  as  they  had  been  doing  for  several 
years.  He  decided  to  begin  with  himself  in  saving  expenses 
for  the  Society,  so  he  took  up  his  lodgings  in  the  Depository 
Building.     Thus  he  was  close  to  his  work  day  and  night. 

The  history  of  the  toils,  the  personal  sacrifices,  tlie  resolute 
grappling  with  perplexing  problems  and  the  constant  journey- 
ings  amongst  the  churches  cannot  be  related  in  detail.  They  can 
be  summarized,  and  their  object  indicated  in  a  single  phrase: 
He  sought  to  create  a  strong  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  the 
Society.  He  used  two  methods;  he  described  the  great  need, 
and  he  appealed  to  Baptist  loyalty  to  meet  the  situation  in  a 
noble  and  effective  way. 

He  was  greatly  hampered  in  his  efforts  by  the  fact  that  the 
Foreign  Mission  Society  was  forty  thousand  dollars  in  debt,  a 
large  amount  for  those  days,  and  was  canvassing  every  part  of 
the  eastern  country  for  funds  to  relieve  their  extreme  embarrass- 
ment. At  every  convention,  in  almost  every  church,  his  appeal 
was  met  by  the  cry :  "What  we  can  give  to  benevolence  must  go 
to  the  Society  that  needs  it  most."  Had  the  Publication  Society 
been  long  established  or  everywhere  favorably  regarded  much 
more  could  have  been  done.  Besides  this,  the  anti-slavery 
movement  was  forging  forward  apace,  and  the  strife  and  con- 
tention were  proving  a  heavy  handicap  to  all  missionary  organ- 
izations. 

In  spite  of  these  difficulties  Mr.  Peck  accomplished  splendid 
results  in  the  way  of  general  promotion.  He  visited  nearly  all 
the  Eastern,  Middle  and  Southern  states  again  and  again.  He 
planned  the  system  of  branch  depositories.  He  enlarged  the 
staff  of  agents  and  colporteurs.  The  contributions  also  increased 
year  by  year.  By  virtue  of  the  eirenic  and  thoroughly  Christian 
spirit  which  he  manifested  he  was  able  to  keep  the  northern 
and  southern  churches  together  in  the  joint  support  of  the 
Publication  Society,  during  his  term  of  office,  in  spite  of  the  fact 

Page  91 


that  secession  had  already  invaded  successfully  the  ranks  of  the 
older  Societies. 

In  May,  1846,  he  resigned  his  office.  After  twenty-five 
years  of  missionary  labor  in  the  West  he  had  found  it  difficult  to 
adjust  himself  to  an  entirely  new  environment.  Besides  this, 
it  was  not  his  habit  to  work  under  masters  or  to  modify  his 
policies  to  suit  the  desires  of  a  Board  of  Trustees.  In  other 
words  he  pined  for  the  free  life  of  the  prairies  and  he  fretted 
under  limitations.  He  returned  with  great  joy  to  his  home  and 
dear  ones;  and  was  received  with  enthusiasm  by  his  friends. 

He  had  visited  Eock  Spring  once  each  year  during  his  term 
as  Secretary,  and  on  one  of  these  visits  had  had  a  thrilling 
experience,  which  nearly  cost  him  his  life.  He  was  on  his  way 
from  Cincinnati  to  St.  Louis  by  boat.  On  the  last  Sunday  of 
the  year  he  had  preached  to  the  Captain,  crew  and  passengers 
from  the  text:  "The  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand."  The  words 
were  strangely  prophetic.  On  Jan.  3rd  the  steamer  entered 
the  Mississippi  Eiver  from  the  Ohio  and  turned  northward. 
The  following  account  of  the  accident  which  ensued  is  written 
in  Mr.  Peck's  own  graphic  style : 

"Jan.  3d.  Our  boat  lay  by  for  some  hours  this  morning 
before  light,  as  the  navigation  was  deemed  dangerous.  At  sun- 
set we  were  a  few  miles  above  Herculaneum.  At  nine  o'clock 
the  cabin  passengers  signed  a  testimonial  of  thankfulness  to  the 
captain  for  his  carefulness  and  prudence  in  navigating  the  boat 
amid  the  dangers  of  the  Mississippi  at  this  low  stage  of  water, 
as  snags  abound  in  the  channel.  Retired  to  my  berth  at  about 
half  past  nine,  with  my  clothes  on  except  my  coat,  the  night 
being  very  cold.    After  considerable  time  I  fell  asleep. 

"Near  eleven  o'clock  I  was  awakened  by  a  dreadful  crash: 
the  boat  struck  a  large  snag,  scarcely  above  the  surface  of  the 
water.  I  heard  nearly  at  the  same  instant  screams  of  distress 
and  sprang  from  my  berth,  put  on  my  coat,  seized  one  boot,  but 
before  I  could  put  it  on  the  water  was  rushing  into  my  state- 
room.    Without  boots  or  hat  I  rushed  on  to  the  guard,  seized 

Page  98 


the  projecting  portion  of  the  hurricane  (or  upper)  deck,  where, 
after  considerable  difficult}^,  I  succeeded  in  getting  on  to  that 
deck.  A  number  of  persons  were  already  there  and  many  more 
got  on  from  the  stern  afterward.  The  bow  was  so  far  under 
water  as  to  cover  the  guards,  but  the  stern  held  up  some  time 
longer. 

"Hearing  cries  from  the  ladies'  cabin  I  got  the  pole  of  a 
wagon  on  the  deck,  and,  thrusting  it  in  at  the  slcy-light,  tried 
to  pry  off  the  roof,  but  found  it  impossible.  The  ladies,  how- 
ever, succeeded  in  getting  on  the  hurricane  deck,  as  did  most  of 
the  steerage  passengers.  The  boat  was  then  floating  sideways 
during  the  current  and  soon  ran  on  another  snag  and  careened 
partly  over.  The  hull  of  the  boat  then  separated  and  floated 
alongside  the  cabin  and  upper  works.  Next  the  smoke-stacks 
(or  chimneys)  fell,  which  tore  off  the  end  of  the  hurricane 
deck.  Captain  Howell,  with  several  other  persons,  was  killed 
or  knocked  overboard  by  the  fall  of  the  chimneys.  The  wheel- 
houses  were  soon  separated  from  the  deck  and  floated  off  or 
sunk. 

"Finding  myself  exposed  to  the  piercing  atmosphere  I  got 
down  on  the  guards.  But  before  this  I  had  prayed  repeatedly 
with  the  people  around  me.  At  first  there  was  much  confusion, 
and  many  screams  and  howlings  to  God  for  mercy.  Some  pro- 
fessors of  religion  prayed  consistently.  Soon  the  hull  struck  a 
bluff-bar  and  turned  nearly  over.  Persons  now  gathered  planks, 
doors  and  pieces  of  the  wreck  to  swim  on.  I  looked  about  for 
something  of  the  kind,  but  finally  concluded  to  stick  by  the 
wreck  while  it  floated. 

"The  hurricane  deck  fell  after  awhile.  We  were  now  on  a 
sort  of  raft,  formed  by  the  cabin-floor  and  guards.  The  current 
bore  us,  first  on  one  side,  then  in  the  middle,  then  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river.  Some  were  entirely  wet,  with  very  little  cloth- 
ing on.  They  suffered  intensely.  A  steamer  lay  at  the  shot- 
tower,  and  as  we  passed  near  we  aroused  the  men  on  board, 
who  came  off  in  their  yawl.    As  it  neared  the  wreck,  I  directed 

Page  99 


them  to  first  relieve  the  women  and  children  who  were  perish- 
ing. They  put  most  of  them  on  shore.  The  next  time  the  yawl 
came  near  the  stern  on  my  side.  Seeing  a  little  girl  quite  help- 
less I  caught  her  up  and  leaped  into  the  boat. 

"By  this  time  we  had  floated  a  long  distance  down  the  cur- 
rent, and  were  landed  a  full  mile  below  Videpoche.  I  had  to 
walk  without  boots  or  shoes.  My  stockings  were  soon  worn 
through.  The  ground  was  frozen  hard,  and  its  sharpness  hurt 
me  at  every  step.  One  foot  was  frozen  al)out  the  ball  and  very 
much  cut.  I  carried,  too,  one  of  the  babes  of  ]\Irs.  Snell,  a  pas- 
senger. On  reaching  the  first  house  they  would  not  let  us  in. 
At  the  next  we  obtained  shelter  and  refreshment. 

"Soon  after  a  little  girl  was  brought  in  by  some  men, 
entirely  cold,  speechless,  senseless.  I  got  a  blanket,  removed 
her  wet  and  frozen  garments  and  rubbed  her  with  flannels  and 
vinegar.  It  was  about  an  hour  before  she  began  to  moan,  and 
more  than  four  hours  before  any  Avarmth  appeared,  except 
about  the  heart.  She  so  far  recovered  before  I  left  the  place 
as  to  speak.  Another  girl  was  brought  in  dead.  The  yawl  went 
four  times  to  the  wreck,  and  the  ferry-boat  'Icelander'  helped  to 
complete  the  work.  Soon  as  daylight  dawned  I  went  to  the 
store  and  bought  a  cap  and  shoes.  At  an  early  period,  and  when 
the  boat  was  breaking  up,  I  fully  expected  death,  as  I  could  not 
swim,  but  felt  calm  and  resigned,  no  ecstacy  and  no  fear,  but 
perfect  self-possession  with  ability  to  think  of  and  care  and  pray 
for  others.    Eternity  will  never  seem  nearer  till  I  enter  it. 

"Blessed  be  God  for  his  goodness  to  me.  I  consider  my- 
self under  additional  obligation,  anew  to  devote  myself  unre- 
servedly to  his  service." 


Page  100 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Quiet  Years — And  the  End 

THE  last  few  years  in  the  life  of  "the  old  Pioneer"  were 
spent  in  comparative  quiet.  The  period  of  his  great 
adventuring  was  over.  The  wilderness  had  become  a 
garden.  Railways  were  being  built  and  many  steamboats  were 
on  the  rivers.  Settlements  had  grown  into  towns  and  towns 
into  cities.  Colleges  were  springing  up  in  all  directions.  Civil- 
ization was  marching  merrily  forAvard,  carrying  its  comforts  and 
cultures  into  every  part  of  the  broad  valley.  In  the  thirty 
years  since  Mr.  Peck  first  landed  in  St.  Louis  such  a  transfor- 
mation had  been  wrought  as  was  never  known  in  any  section 
of  the  globe  since  the  morning  stars  sang  together. 

It  had  been  this  man's  privilege  to  see  with  his  own  eyes 
these  startling  changes  and  this  amazing  growth.  But  more 
than  this  was  true,  much  more  than  this.  He  knew  little  about 
shops  and  banks  and  business;  he  had  a  wholesome  dread  of 
politics  and  he  cared  less  than  nothing  for  social  prestige;  yet 
he  had  done  far  more  than  any  other  man,  more  than  any  group 
of  men,  to  promote  the  moral  and  religious  welfare  of  the 
people  of  two  sovereign  States.  He  had  been  in  a  real  sense 
the  maker  and  moulder  of  better  things  in  the  life  of  the  New 
West,  the  apostle  of  spiritual  realities,  the  stalwart  prophet  of 
the  wilderness,  a  revealer  of  the  hidden  mysteries  of  God  to 
innumerable  souls. 

He  had  now  closed  his  career  of  public  leadership.  He  had 
not,  however,  terminated  his  period  of  usefulness.  By  no 
means !  He  carried  forward  with  undiminished  zeal  four  lines 
of  consecrated  eifort.  His  preaching  and  evangelistic  work 
were  a  source  of  inspiration  to  the  churches  which  he  visited. 
His  multifarious  correspondence  kept  him  in  intimate  connec- 

Page  101 


tion  with  a  vast  variety  of  interests.  His  literary  work  enabled 
him  to  utilize  the  stores  of  information  which  he  had  accumu- 
lated. His  lectures  and  addresses,  for  which  there  was  constant 
call,  gave  him  an  educational  opportunity. 

His  preaching  was  confined  chiefly  to  the  churches  which  he 
had  known  and  nurtured  in  former  days,  at  Rock  Spring,  Ed- 
wardsville,  Belleville,  Bethel  and  St.  Louis.  For  the  African 
Baptist  Church  in  St.  Louis,  which  had  grown  out  of  his  very 
earliest  labors  in  the  western  field,  he  always  entertained  the 
deepest  solicitude,  and  in  the  last  years  of  his  life  he  gave 
special  attention  to  the  needs  of  this  humble  company  of  Christ- 
ians, and  to  the  other  colored  church  which  had  been  formed  as 
an  off-shoot  of  the  parent  body.  While  supplying  for  a  period 
of  nine  months  the  white  Baptist  Church  in  St.  Louis,  which 
had  also  grown  out  of  the  original  church  of  his  planting,  he 
succeeded  in  clearing  off  a  debt  of  $12,000,  the  last  of  a  heavy 
mortgage  which  had  lain  upon  it  for  many  years. 

Through  his  ministry  in  St.  Louis  a  large  number  of 
German  and  Dutch  people  were  converted  to  Baptist  views,  and 
as  a  direct  result  a  German  church  was  founded,  and  also  the 
German  Baptist  Mission  of  the  West.  In  1851  he  accepted  a  call 
to  the  pastorate  of  the  Bethel  Church,  in  Southern  Illinois,  and 
continued  his  ministry  there  until  October,  1853,  when  he  be- 
came pastor  of  the  church  in  Covington,  Kentucky,  across  the 
Ohio  River  from  Cincinnati.  Here  he  remained  less  than  four 
months.  His  health  broke  down  almost  completely,  and  so, 
in  a  precarious  state,  he  returned  to  his  home  at  Rock  Spring. 
The  last  four  3'^ears  of  his  life  following  his  resignation  at 
Covington,  were  attended  by  constant  distress  of  body,  and  he 
did  little  preaching. 

His  correspondence  was  always  a  matter  of  marvel  to  his 
friends.  It  was  a  common  habit  of  his  to  write  fifteen  or 
twenty  letters  a  day,  some  of  them  covering  three  or  four  big 
sheets  of  foolscap.  He  was  for  many  years  the  "Bishop"  and 
spiritual  adviser  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  so  multitudes  of 
letters,  of  every  sort  and  description,  found  their  way  into  his 

Page  102 


study.  He  was  extremely  conscientious  in  his  treatment  of 
these  communications.  He  employed  no  Secretary ;  he  answered 
each  letter  personally;  he  filed  a  digest  of  their  replies.  Re- 
sponding to  numberless  questions  and  requests  he  gave  forth 
abundantly  his  counsel,  help,  money,  inspiration  and  his  opinions 
on  theological  themes. 

At  times  the  burden  became  almost  overwhelming.  In  the 
last  years  of  his  life,  however,  when  his  long  journeys  had  been 
discontinued,  and  it  was  possible  for  him  to  keep  easily  abreast 
of  his  letter-writing  duties,  he  greatly  relished  this  part  of  his 
work,  and  was  able  to  exercise  a  beneficent  ministry,  alike  of 
helpfulness  and  instruction,  through  this  agency. 

His  literary  work  was  now  carried  forward  with  few  in- 
terruptions. He  completed  and  published  his  authoritative 
"Life  of  Daniel  Boone."  He  edited  and  published  the  "Annals 
of  the  West,"  an  octave  volume  of  more  than  600  pages.  He 
wrote  a  series  of  papers  for  the  St.  Louis  "Eepublic"  on  the 
"Pioneers  of  the  West."  He  wrote  and  published  the  "Life  of 
Father  Clark."  He  superintended  the  publication  of  "The 
Mississippi  River  Illustrated,"  an  ambitious  work,  adorned  with 
splendid  engravings;  but  the  unreliability  of  the  man  who  was 
securing  the  plates  and  writing  the  descriptive  articles  caused 
the  suspension  of  the  undertaking.  He  contributed  to  the 
"National  Era"  a  series  of  articles  on  "Illinois"  and  to  the 
"Illinois  Journal"  at  Springfield  a  series  on  "Incidents  of 
Illinois."  He  also  published  several  pamphlets,  and  contributed 
constantly  to  the  columns  of  the  "Western  Watchman,"  the 
"Christian  Review,"  the  "Christian  Repository"  and  other  papers. 

On  Nov.  18,  1853,  the  old  Rock  Spring  Seminary  was 
burned,  and  with  it  a  large  part  of  Mr.  Peck's  librar}^  It  was 
a  serious  calamity.  Some  valuable  books  were  saved,  but,  as  he 
says  in  his  journal,  "an  important  branch  of  my  labor  for  more 
than  thirty  years  is  wholly  lost.  My  collection  of  files  of  papers, 
periodicals  and  other  pamphlets,  amounting  to  several  thousand 
volumes,  mostly  unbound  but  carefully  filed,  together  with 
much  other  matter  which  I  had  intended  for  some  public  in- 

Page  10 S 


stitution  to  be  preserved  for  generations  to  come — ^these  can 
never  be  replaced  ...  I  can  only  say,  the  will  of  the  Lord  be 
done."  The  loss  was  irreparable,  yet  it  is  characteristic  of  the 
man  that  he  gave  no  time  to  repining  but  sought  in  every  way 
to  replace  the  books  and  even  the  manuscript  records  which  he 
valued  above  silver  or  gold.  This  in  many  cases  was  impossible, 
for  the  writers  of  these  histories  and  reminiscences  of  early 
Illinois  and  Missouri,  prepared  at  his  urgent  request,  and  consti- 
tuting a  large  part  of  his  collection,  had  passed  away. 

In  addition  to  his  preaching  and  evangelistic  efforts,  his 
correspondence,  and  his  literary  work,  he  was  frequently  invited 
to  deliver  addresses,  and  he  seldom  refused  until  the  bondage 
of  severe  illness  prevented.  He  spoke  frequently  on  home  and 
foreign  missions;  prepared  a  course  of  sermons  or  addressess  on 
revivals;  gave  a  series  of  lectures  on  "Aboriginal  Missions," 
delivered  an  oration  at  the  Shurtleff  College  Commencement  on 
the  "Life  and  Character  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Shurtleff;"  and  at 
the  Commencement  of  Georgetown  College  on  "Elements  of 
Western  Character,"  and  spoke  at  Forefather's  Day  in  St.  Louis 
on  "The  North,  the  South  and  the  West."  These  are  only  a 
few  of  the  many  engagements  which  he  filled.  Not  many  of 
them  took  him  far  from  Eock  Spring,  and  it  is  noticeable  that 
in  these  later  years  he  became  very  easily  wearied  and  seldom 
journeyed  far  from  his  home. 

There  was  one  exception  to  this  new  habit  of  his  life, 
however,  and  that  was  his  last  visit  to  the  Eastern  States.  He 
set  forth  in  April,  1852,  and  was  absent  nearly  four  months. 
He  attended  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Publication  Society  in 
Philadelphia;  and,  there,  with  his  ancient  zeal  for  bringing  to 
jiass  new  organizations,  he  submitted  a  plan  for  the  constitution 
of  a  Baptist  Historical  Society,  which  was  adopted  and  its 
provisions  put  into  effect.  He  was  present  at  tlie  Baptist 
Anniversaries  in  Albany  and  the  interdenominational  May  Meet- 
ings in  Boston.  He  was  the  guest  of  President  Sparks  of 
Harvard  University  at  the  Commencement  of  that  institution. 
Tarious  publication  societies,  book  publishers  and  individuals, 

Page  lO-i 


having  heard  of  the  burning  of  his  library,  made  generous 
donations  of  historical  and  other  material,  to  supply  in  part  his 
great  loss.  His  interviews  with  old  and  cherished  friends  in 
the  cities  through  which  he  passed,  were  a  source  of  delight 
to  him. 

In  liis  latter  years,  being  at  home  the  most  of  the  time,  he 
who  had  gone  forth  so  often  and  so  gallantly  to  bear  blessings  to 
others,  loved  to  summon  other  men  to  his  own  hearth-stone. 
Many  of  the  eminent  ministers  and  denominational  leaders  of 
the  day  were  guests  at  Rock  Spring.  During  his  whole  career 
he  had  been  an  ardent  friend  and  helper  of  young  pastors.  His 
words  of  advice  were  very  frank  and  sometimes  brusque  and 
blunt,  but  they  were  always  suggestive  and  stimulating. 

The  following  quaint  narrative  of  a  meeting  at  his  residence, 
written  by  one  of  the  ministers  who  was  present,  affords  a 
pleasant  picture  of  the  patriarch  in  the  midst  of  his  friends: 
"Eock  Spring  is  the  home,  and  for  many  years  has  been  the 
center  of  influence  of  the  venerable  author  of  the  Emigrant's 
Guide  and  Gazetter  of  Illinois;  the  man  whose  publications  and 
correspondence  have  led  more  settlers  into  tliis  State  than  any 
other  ten  men.  Who  need  to  be  told  that  this  is  the  Eev.  J.  M. 
Peck !  We  should  love  to  draw  aside  the  veil,  just  a  little,  from 
this  domestic  scene.  It  proves  that  he  who  has  shared  the 
hospitality  of  so  many  families  in  all  parts  of  our  country,  is  as 
willing  to  exercise  as  to  accept  it. 

"See  his  cheerful  helpmate,  contenting  herself  as  best  she 
may  to  abide  at  home  and  assiduously  care  for  the  welfare  of 
the  family  and  guests,  having  never  revisited  her  native  New 
England  since  her  first  departure  in  1817.  Nor  can  you  fail 
to  notice  that  daughter  Mary,  with  the  father's  energy,  and 
the  mother's  quietness:  how  steady,  noiseless,  and  efficient  are 
all  her  movements!  and  to  her,  in  no  small  degree,  are  owing 
the  comfort  and  happiness  which  always  smile  around  that 
dwelling.  Ijarger  in  its  capacity  to  furnish  good  accommoda- 
tions for  the  family  and  numerous  guests,  by  day  and  by  night, 
than  any  of  its  size  we  ever  saw.  is  the  home  of  this  brother. 

Page  105 


He  had  expected  our  coming,  and  knowing  how  very  limited 
our  stay  must  be,  had  arranged  everything  in  the  best  order 
possible  to  fill  up  the  day.  Most  of  the  morning  was  spent  with 
him  alone  in  his  study.  What  accumulations  of  laborious  care- 
fulness and  orderly  accretions,  during  a  long  lifetime,  here 
surround  you!  Near  noon  the  neighboring  ministers,  for  a 
dozen  or  twenty  miles  around,  begin  to  arrive.  After  some  time 
spent  in  introductions  and  mutual  greetings,  dinner  being  over, 
a  goodly-sized  congregation  met  in  the  Eock  Spring  Seminary 
Building  of  former  years,  now  only  used  as  a  chapel.  After 
praise  and  prayer  and  preaching,  some  of  us  strolled  over  the 
more  interesting  localities,  bathed  in  the  effluents  of  the  spring, 
and  drank  of  its  pure  waters. 

"After  tea,  all  assembled  in  the  largest  room,  our  host  act- 
ing as  moderator  of  the  meeting;  and  from  each  in  turn,  be- 
ginning with  the  eldest,  some  recital  was  given  of  the  way  in 
which  the  Lord  had  led  them  in  the  wilderness,  lo,  these  many 
years !  Thus  we  heard  in  succession  from  Darrow  and  Eoss 
and  the  Lemens  (who  witnessed  the  first  baptism  in  this  terri- 
tory in  1794,  and  the  first  Baptist  Association  formed  in  1807), 
from  Pulliam  and  Taylor,  from  Eogers  and  Dawson  and  the 
younger  Eoss,  and  some  others.  Most  of  these  were  inade- 
quately-sustained ministers,  but  loved  the  cause  apparently  in 
proportion  to  the  sacrifices  they  had  made  for  it. 

"In  private,  and  in  various  incidental  ways,  it  was  gratify- 
ing to  see  the  high  regard  which  they  all  felt  for  Brother  Peck. 
*He  has  been  faithful  to  us  in  helping  to  correct  our  faults,  and 
to  improve  our  minds  and  hearts  and  we  thank  him  for  it,'  was 
the  common  sentiment.  At  a  late  hour  that  evening  we  prayed 
and  sang  and  wept  and  rejoiced  together;  near  midnight  re- 
tired to  rest,  and  when  all  were  comfortably  sleeping  around, 
we  long  lay  in  wakeful  musings,  thinking  over  the  scene  which 
we  shall  never  witness  again." 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year  1856  he  met  with  a  most 
severe  bereavement  in  the  death  of  his  wife.  In  a  noble  tribute 
to  her  memory  he  says  that  had  she  not  possessed  the  principles 
Page  106 


which  controlled  her  life,  and  been  the  wise,  prudent,  self-deny- 
ing head  and  governor  of  the  family  that  she  was,  he  "could  not 
have  made  half  the  sacrifices  and  performed  half  the  services 
kind  friends  have  attributed  to  me." 

In  June,  1857,  the  old  man,  worn  and  feeble,  summoned 
strength  sufficient  to  attend  the  Commencement  at  Shurtleff 
College,  and  to  take  part  in  the  sessions  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees. In  July  ho  went  by  steamer  from  St.  Louis  to  Galena, 
and  visited  his  children  in  Iowa,  returning  by  way  of  Chicago, 
whence  he  was  a  guest  of  Mayor  Boone  and  met  many  friends. 
On  October  31st  he  writes  in  his  journal:  "This  is  my  birth- 
day, and  I  am  68  years  old.  It  is  hardly  possible  for  me  to  live 
to  see  another  anniversary.  My  sole  dependence  is  on  the  mercy 
and  grace  of  God.  0  Lord,  unto  thy  hands  I  commit  my 
spirit." 

His  last  days  were  filled  with  suffering.  On  Febuary  16th, 
1858,  he  writes  that  President  Read  of  Shurtleff  College  and 
Hon.  Cyrus  Edwards  visited  him  in  his  home.  He  adds :  "Dis- 
cussed college  matters  very  fully.  The  conversation  was  cheerful 
and  exhilerating,  and  we  enjoyed  ourselves  greatly."  On  the 
28th  of  February  he  dressed  himself  and  conducted  family  wor- 
ship, reading  three  verses  from  the  Bible  and  offering  a  short 
prayer.    After  this  he  was  unable  to  leave  his  bed. 

On  Sunday,  March  14,  his  old  friend  Rev.  W.  F.  Boyakin, 
who  was  destined  to  survive  him  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
talked  with  him  for  some  time.  To  him  he  said :  "Only  Christ 
is  my  Saviour,  my  whole  dependence."  This  phrase  expressed 
the  secret  of  his  entire  life.  The  same  evening,  at  a  quarter 
before  nine,  he  died.  His  last  words  were  a  benediction  upon 
each  member  of  his  family,  who  stood  about  his  bed.  Two  days 
later  he  was  buried.  The  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  his 
friend  of  forty  years.  Rev.  James  Lemen,  from  the  text:  "I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept 
the  faith."    So  ended  the  glorious  life  of  "The  Old  Pioneer." 


Page  101 


CHAPTER  XIV 

The  Man  and  His  Work 

THE  career  of  John  Mason  Peck  was  well  ordered,  con- 
trolled in  all  things  by  elevating  principles  of  righteous- 
ness, fruitful  beyond  measure  in  its  issues. 

To  trust  with  simple  heart  in  the  Eternal  Goodness;  to 
walk  in  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ  and  see  with  His  eyes  the 
world-need;  to  interpret  truth  in  terms  of  life  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Holy  Spirit;  to  eliminate  the  note  of  self;  to  go 
forth  eagerly  to  serve  and  rescue  men ;  to  form  deep  convictions 
in  the  quiet  haunts  of  prayer  and  utter  them  boldly  in  the  temple 
and  in  the  market-place;  to  plan  widely  and  wisely  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  God ;  to  accept  rebuffs  with 
equanimity  and  welcome  opposition  as  a  challenge  to  strength; 
to  pour  forth  ceaselessly  the  treasures  of  brain  and  heart  that 
the  common  life  may  be  enriched:  to  do  this  is  to  become  a 
higher  person,  a  man  after  God's  own  heart.  The  character  of 
the  man  whose  story  has  been  told  in  these  pages  may  be  truth- 
fully described  by  such  words. 

Often  the  larger  virtues  which  a  soul  possesses  are  more 
or  less  obscured  by  superficial  flaws  or  roughnesses.  Mr,  Peck 
was  always  hearty  and  friendly  but  he  was  singularly  direct 
and  even  abrupt  in  his  manner,  and  his  frankness  of  speech  was 
sometimes  more  disconcerting  than  charming.  Although  born 
in  the  East  he  was  a  typical  Son  of  the  West.  His  breeziness 
and  vigor,  his  absence  of  dignified  reserve,  his  abounding  joy  in 
life,  his  intensity  of  faith  and  virility  in  action,  were  akin  to 
the  spirit  of  the  rolling  prairies  and  the  mighty  rivers  of  the 
New  West,  where  his  powers  grew  to  their  maturity. 

He  believed  in  organization  as  the  key  to  efficiency.  He 
organized  individual  Bible  societies,  temperance  societies,  Sun- 
Page  108 


day  schools,  churches.  He  brought  these  together,  forming 
larger  groups  that  were  county-wide  and  state-wide.  His  influ- 
ence was  chiefly  instrumental  in  the  formation  of  three  great 
national  bodies,  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society, 
the  American  Baptist  Publication  Society  and  the  Baptist  His- 
torical Society.  He  superintended,  during  many  years,  the 
ministry  and  work  of  a  large  company  of  missionary-pastors  and 
evangelists. 

The  extent  of  his  correspondence,  his  literary  labors,  his 
service  to  the  interests  of  public  welfare,  and  his  effective  pro- 
motion of  the  cause  of  common-school  education  have  already 
been  indicated.  He  not  only  founded  the  College  at  Alton,  but, 
by  his  resolute  action  in  a  moment  of  peril,  he  redeemed  its 
fortunes,  while  by  his  "discovery"  of  Dr.  Shurtleff  he  secured 
its  future. 

He  knew  little  about  technical  scholarship,  but  he  had  a 
mind  greedy  for  knowledge.  He  taught  men  to  think,  and  he 
advocated,  from  one  end  of  his  broad  field  of  action  to  the  other, 
the  necessity  for  training,  education,  a  thorough  mental  dis- 
cipline and  equipment  for  the  tasks  of  life.  His  own  attain- 
ments, in  spite  of  the  handicap  of  a  meagre  school-experience, 
were  recognized  by  the  oldest  and  mostt  famous  of  American 
colleges,  when  Harvard  University  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1851. 

He  was  profoundly  attached  to  his  friends,  and  especially 
to  the  dear  ones  in  his  own  home.  The  constant  references  in 
his  journal  attest  the  truth  of  this  statement.  They  portray 
his  ceaseless  solicitude  for  the  members  of  the  family-circle, 
from  whom  the  demands  of  his  calling  forced  him  to  be  absent 
so  much  of  his  time.  They  chronicle  his  joy  and  gratitude 
when,  from  time  to  time,  his  children  were  led  to  confess  their 
faith  in  Christ.  In  his  journeys  abroad  he  went  out  of  his  way, 
times  without  number,  to  visit  old  friends  and  spend  an  hour 
or  a  day  in  happy  converse  ^vith  them.  This  was  really  the  only 
recreation  that  he  ever  allowed  himself,  and  this  mode  of  recrea- 

Page  109 


tion  was  always  a  source  of  inspiration  and  bulwarked  his  heart 
with  new  courage  for  his  exhausting  tasks. 

The  secret  of  his  abundantly  successful  life,  his  prolific 
labors,  his  subordination  of  all  personal  interests  to  the  needs  of 
others,  was  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  spirit  of  Christ  dwelt 
in  him.  The  Saviour  of  men  had  conquered  the  citadel  of  his 
soul.  His  consuming  passion  was  to  do  Christ's  will  in  the 
world,  to  establish  His  Kingdom  in  the  midst  of  the  growing 
life  of  the  West. 

He  was  a  builder  of  men  and  of  institutions.  He  set  the 
corner  stones  of  truth  and  righteousness  in  the  fabric  of  a  new 
civilization.  He  toiled  in  the  service  of  the  Master-builder.  So 
he  built  for  eternity;  and  his  work  abides. 


Page  110 


INDEX 


African  Church,  St.  Louis....    102 

Alton  Seminary    84 

Amenia,  Church  in 13 

Amer.  Baptist  Historical  So- 
ciety    104,  109 

Amer.   Baptist  Home  Mission 

Society 75,  87,  89,  90,  107 

American   Baptist   Missionary 

Union     9,  97 

Amer.    Bapt.    Publication    So- 
ciety  93,   96,    104,  109 

Amer.  Bible  Society 38,  60,  77 

Amer.    Sunday    School    Union 

41,  52,  60,  77 

"Annals  of  the  West" 103 

Anniversaries,   Baptist.. 9,   96,104 
Anti-Mission     Influences,     30, 

48,    66,  87 

Babcock,  Dr.  R 50,  75 

"Banner  and  Pioneer" 89,  95 

Baptism,  First,  in  St.  Louis.  .      27 
"Bapt.  Missionary  Magazine"  43,  82 

Belleville,  Church  at 91,  102 

Bethel  Association 34 

Bethel   Church    102 

Bible  Distribution   52 

Boone,  Daniel 38,  80,  103 

Boone,  Mayor   105 

Boone's  Lick   35,  38 

Boyakin,  W.  F 107 

Bradley,  Joshua   68 

Chicago   71,  90,  107 

Cincinnati    59,  98 

Circuit  Preaching 30,  61,  72 

Coats,  William   39 

Colonization  Society    59,  77 

Columbian  College    43,  CO 

Covington,  Ky 102 

Craig,  James 42 

Eastern  States,  Visits  to.  .59, 

85,  93. 104 

Edwards,   Gov 79 

Edwards,  Hon,  C 107 


Female  Mite  Societies 41 

Fox  River  Association 90 

Furman,  Dr 21 

German  Baptist  Mission 102 

Gonig,  Dr.  J 73,  83,  85 

Greene,  T.  P 69 

"Guide  to  Emigrants" .  80,  86,  105 

Hamilton,  Students  at 73 

Harvard  University   104,  109 

Hinton,  I.  T 90,  96 

Illinois   27,  81,  103 

Illinois  Association 35,  50,  92 

Illionis    Bapt.    Education    So- 
ciety          86 

Illinois  Sunday  School  Union     78 
India,  Missions  in 14,  20,  43 

Journeys,     Missionary,     27  fF., 

33  ff.,   57,  72,  75,  78,  89 
Judson,  Adonivam   9,  20 

Kentucky,   Tours   in 89 

Lemen,  James 66,  106,  107 

Lexington,  Ky.,  Church  in. .  . .     91 

Liberty,  Mo 57 

Library,  Burned 103 

Litchfield,   Conn 10,   12,  22,  60 

Loomis,  Hubbel 84 

Louisville,  Ky 89,  91,  94 

Marks,  Judge   50 

Mass.  Bapt.  Convention 94 

Mass.  Baptist  Missionary  So- 
ciety   47,  53,  61,  74 

McCoy,  William  45 

Mercer,  Jesse   22,  48 

Mission  Policies   44,  53 

Mississippi  River.  .  .  .25,  27,  84,  98 
Missouri  Bible  Society 38 

New  Durham  Churcli 11 

New  England  Traits 62 

Page  111 


Northern  Bapt.  Education  So- 
ciety         94 

Parker,  Daniel   48 

Pattison,  R.  E 92 

Peck,  J.  M.:  Birth,  10;  Con- 
version, 10;  Marriage,  11; 
Eemovel  to  N.  Y.  State,  11; 
Baptism,  11;  Pastor  at 
Catskill,  12;  Ordination,  13; 
at  Amenia,  13;  Student 
Days,  17  ff.;  Appointment  to 
West,  21;  Arrival  in  St. 
Louis,  25;  First  Visit  to 
Illinois,  27;  Pioneer  Jour- 
neys, 28  If. ;  Removal  to  St. 
Charles,  42 ;  to  Rock  Spring, 
47;'  Visits  Eastern  States, 
59 ;  Establishes  Seminary, 
66;  Newspaper,  68;  Varied 
Labors,  77;  Literary  Work, 
80,  103;  Pastor  at  Rock 
Spring,  88;  at  Belleville, 
91;  at  St.  Louis,  91;  at 
Covington,  102;  Removal  to 
Louisville,  92;  Secretary  of 
Publication  Society,  96 ; 
Later  Years,  lOlff.f  Death, 
107;  Character  108 

Peck,  Mrs.  J.  M. .  .  .11,  24,  49, 

105,  106 

Pioneer  Conditions 26,  29, 

31,  36,  57 

Pioneer  of  the  Valley  of  the 
Mississippi    69,  77  86 

PuUiam,  James 66,  106 

Religious  Journalism 68,  86 

Revivalism 54 

Rice,  Luther   13,  18,  60 

Rock   Spring,   47,   59,   69,   86, 

98,   102,  105 


Rock  Spring  Church.  . .  .48,  50,  88 
Rock  Spring  Seminary,  66,  103,  106 
Russell,  John  68 

Schools,  in  West. . .  .28,  33,  35,  59 

Shawneetown    24,  64 

Shurtleff  College 84,  104,  107 

Shurtleff,  Dr.  B 85,  104 

"Squatters"   31,  36 

Staughton,  William.  .  17,  19,  22,  60 

St.  Charles  Academy 42,  46 

Steamer,  Wreck  of 98 

St.  Louis,  in  1817 25 

St.  Louis  Church.. 27,  45,  50, 

68,  102 
Sunday   Schools.  ..  18,   27,   40, 

52,  56 

Temperance:    Illinois  Society, 

78 ;   Advocacy  of 82 

Theological  In.struction  ....19,  61 
Triennial    Convention ..  9,    20, 

43,  60  74 

United  Sosiety 34,  37 

Upper  Alton 84,  86 

Welch,  J.  E....17,  21,  24,  34, 

39,  44,  50 
West,  Growth  of  the.. 71,  80, 

89,  101 
Western    Baptist    Educational 

Association 85 

Western    Baptist    Publication 

Society    92 

Western"  Baptists,  Convention 

of    91,  92 

Western    Mission :     Proposed, 

15;  Established,  20;  Closed.      43 
Western  Mission  Academy,  27, 

42,  46 

"Western  Pioneer" 86 

Williams,  Lewis  39,  72 


Page  112 


Home  Mission  Harvests 

of  a 

Hundred  Years 


BY 

LEMUEL    CALL    BARNES,   D.D. 


HOME  MISSION  HARVESTS  OF  A  HUNDRED  YEARS 

Address  hy  L.  C.  Barnes  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  May  17,  1917,  the 
exact  centennial  anniversary  of  the  appointment  of  John 
M.Pech  as  Westerii  Missionary  hy  the  Triennial  Con- 
vention.— These   remarks   tvere   preceded   hy   an 
address  of  Dr.  A.  K.  de  Blois  concerning 
Peck,  the  Pioneer. 

"He  that   goe  th   forth  and    weepeth,    bearing    seed    for    sowing,    shall 
doubtless  come  again  with  joy,  bringing  his   sheaves  with  him." 

Psalm    126,   6. 

WHEN  the  one-horse  wagon  of  John  Mason  Peck  crept 
westward  thru  the   forest  trails   of   Ohio,   there   were 
but  two  Baptists,  Moses  White  and  his  wife,  living  in 
the  raw  hamlet  of  Cleveland.    Today  there  are  twelve  thousand 
members  in  the  27  Baptist  churches  of  this  noble  city. 

That  multiplication  is  typical  of  the  Home  Mission  Har- 
vests of  a  Hundred  Years  in  the  whole  country  from  the  Ohio 
River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  That  was  the  West  of  Peck's  day. 
So  it  must  be  the  West  of  our  thought  tonight. 

The  harvests  have  been  manifold.  They  cannot  be  pic- 
tured or  even  tabulated  in  twenty  minutes. 

Whole  fields  of  golden  grain  must  be  merely  mentioned — 
for  example,  educational  institutions  created,  scores  of  them 
— ^meeting-houses  built,  thousands  of  them — Sunday-schools  or- 
ganized, tens  of  thousands  of  them — Christian  literature  dis- 
tributed, countless  millions  of  pages. 

We  must  concentrate  attention  on  only  three  or  four  .sheaves 
out  of  a  vast  harvest — a  sheaf  of  Americanism,  a  sheaf  of 
enlistment,  a  sheaf  of  munitions  and  a  sheaf  of  personnel. 

Page  115 


I.    A  Sheaf  of  Sure  Americanism. 

The  hundred  years  of  Home  Missions  have  yielded  a  hun- 
dredfold harvest  of  assured  Americanism.  They  have  carried 
the  democracy  of  Rhode  Island  clear  across  the  continent.  That 
is  the  democracy  which  today  is  in  process  of  transforming  the 
whole  world. 

Home  missions  have  done  more  than  anything  else,  unless 
it  be  the  public  schools,  to  eliminate  from  American  life  the 
hyphen-peril.  To  start  with,  Celt  and  Anglo-Saxon,  Welsh 
and  English  Baptists  ran  together  in  the  foundations  of  our 
denomination.  During  the  century  people  of  more  than  thirty 
European  tongues  have  been  assimiliated  by  Baptist  home  mis- 
sions. Seventy-eight  thousand  of  them  are  now  in  our  foreign- 
speaking  churches — probably  as  many  more  in  the  English- 
speaking  churches. 

The  hyphen,  as  a  source  of  anxiety,  has  been  dissolved  in 
the  baptistry.  In  many  cases  of  bleeding  sensibilities  the  cost 
of  American  loyalty  makes  it  a  sacrificial,  a  holy  thing.  Peck 
organized  a  German  Baptist  church  in  St.  Louis.  Thirty-one 
thousand  German  Baptists,  thru  their  representatives  assembled 
four  weeks  ago,  said  this — and  it  will  go  down  the  centuries  as 
one  of  the  memorable  declarations  of  history: 

"Whereas,  the  exigencies  of  the  present  war- 
situation  seem  to  make  a  statement  on  our  part  desir- 
able, and 

"Whereas,  such  an  expression  on  our  part — not- 
withstanding the  often  tested  loyalty  of  the  German- 
Americans  in  the  past  history  of  our  country — does 
not  seem  to  be  superfluous  or  out  of  place;  therefore 
be  it 

"Eesolved,  that  we,  the  General  Mission  Board  of 

the  German  Baptist  Churches  in  the  United  States, 

assembled  in   executive  session  in   Chicago,   Illinois, 

speaking  as  representatives  of  our  churches,  hereby  re- 

Page  116 


affirm  our  unswerving  loyalty  to  our  Government,  and 
be  it  further 

"Resolved,  that  we  declare  ourselves  ready  to  open 
our  churches  for  any  work  which  may  be  asked  of  us  in 
the  interest  of  our  country  and  which  conforms  to  the 
spirit  and  ideals  of  the  Christian  religion." 

Home  missions  have  been  creating  international  ties  with 
men  of  Asiatic  as  well  as  European  blood. 

Millions,  too,  of  African  ancestry  have  been  lifted  into 
light  by  home  missions.  Ten  million  dollars  of  Northern  Bap- 
tist money  and  hundreds  of  far  more  precious  lives  have  had 
much  to  do  in  lifting  the  level  of  literacy  from  ten  per  cent,  to 
over  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  entire  Negro  population. 

Not  only  people  of  European,  Asiatic  and  African  extrac- 
tion but  also  more  than  a  dozen  tribes  of  aboriginal  Americans 
are  being  Americanized  in  the  highest  sense  by  our  Home  Mis- 
sions. 

Eighty-five  years  ago,  when  the  American  Baptist  Home 
Mission  Society  was  organized,  its  charter  required  it  "to  pro- 
mote the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  North  America" — ^the 
whole  continent.  Twenty-five  million  inhabitants  of  North 
America  live  south  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Among  these  Latin 
Americans  only  a  beginning  has  been  made — a  sufficient  begin- 
ning to  show  that  we  can  meet  their  greatest  need.  Our  demo- 
cratic gospel  message  and  tuition  can  help  them  as  nothing  else 
can  do,  to  be  splendid  neighbors  in  Americanism. 

II.     A  Sheaf  of  Voluntai-y  Enlistment 

The  hundred  years  of  Home  Missions  have  yielded  more 
than  a  hundredfold  harvest  of  voluntary  enlistment  in  the  army 
of  the  Lord. 

In  1817  there  were  only  6,383  Baptist  church  members 

west  of  the  Ohio  River;  there  are  now  763,467,  one  hundred 

.  and  twenty  times  the  number  that  we  had  then.     More  than 

Page  117 


one-half  of  the  entire  membership  of  our  Convention  is  now 
west  of  the  Ohio  River. 

One  hundred  years  ago  there  were  only  77,406  members  in 
all  our  churches  in  what  is  now  the  territory  of  the  whole  North- 
ern Baptist  Convention.  Now  there  are  many  more  than  that 
number  in  each  one  of  the  four  States  which  were  on  the  frontier 
when  home  missions  began — Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Mis- 
souri. There  are  nearly  three  times  that  number  now  in  Mis- 
souri alone,  the  State  where  Peck's  undertaking  started. 


B  APT  IS  T^GENTEf^ 

17 


W  a      MQOlVrtVsK 


NEW  YORK 


A  hint  of  the  progress  of  the  harvesting  can  be  gained  by 
a  study  of  the  advancing  center  of  activity.  One  hundred  years 
ago  the  geographical  center  of  the  entire  Northern  Baptist 
church  membership  was  a  hundred  miles  north  of  New  York 
City.  By  a  curious  coincidence,  the  exact  center  then  fell  at 
the  village  of  Catskill,  N.  Y.,  and  it  was  in  the  Baptist  church 
of  Catskill  that  John  M.  Peck  had  just  been  ordained.  Today 
the  center  is  west  of  where  you  now  are  sitting.  To  be  exact, 
Page  118 


it  is  34  miles  northwest  of  Lima,  Ohio.  It  has  moved  560  miles. 
At  the  same  rate  of  progress,  in  another  hundred  years  it  will 
be  near  Omaha,  Nebraska. 

If  all  denominational  headquarters  were  to  be  centered  at 
the  center  of  our  membership  today  and  tomorrow,  it  would  be 
somewhere  between  Cleveland  and  Chicago.  The  seaboard  Bap- 
tists— both  Atlantic  and  Pacific — what  a  time  they  would  have 
holding  an  even  scale  between  the  towns  clamoring  for  head- 
quarters. 

In  1817  there  was  no  Baptist  college  or  seminary  west  of 
the  Ohio  Eiver.  There  are  almost  twice  as  many  students  in 
the  eighteen  Baptist  colleges  west  of  the  Ohio  now  as  there 
were  church  members  in  that  area  then.  We  now  have  in  theo- 
logical seminaries  west  of  the  Ohio  470  students,  four  times  as 
many  as  the  entire  number  of  Baptist  ministers  in  the  West  at 
that  time. 

The  full  record  of  the  Harvest  of  souls  enlisted  exists  only 
in  heaven.  But  careful  computation  shows  that  on  earth  about 
three  million  names  have  been  on  our  western  church  rolls. 
They  were  all  volunteers.  There  was  not  a  conscript  among 
them.  If  we  counted  as  some  do,  we  could  claim  millions  more. 
But  every  one  of  these  three  millions  was  enrolled  by  his  own 
volition.  They  stand  to  the  credit  of  one  hundred  years  of  M'ork 
in  the  West.  Much  of  the  seed  for  this  vast  harvest  was  sown 
by  the  West  itself,  and  much  of  it  by  the  East  to  be  garnered 
in  the  West.  We  are  all  bound  together  in  one  bundle  of  divine 
life. 

From  the  first  day  until  now,  the  keynote  of  home  mis- 
sions has  been  evangelism.  It  was  the  chief  work  of  the  first 
missionary.  Now  that  one  has  become  a  thousand  it  is  still  the 
central  business  of  every  missionary.  With  all  the  century's 
changes  in  the  outward  equipment  of  human  life  and  with  all 
the  century's  changes  in  the  intellectual  vocabulary  of  human 
thought,  there  is  no  cliange  in  the  vital  center  of  endeavor — ■ 
the  winning  of  individual  souls  into  warm,  life-commanding 
allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ.     The  pivotal  work  of  home  mis- 

Page  119 


sions  is  the  same  all  the  way  from  Peck  the  Pioneer  to  Stilwell 
the  Superintendent  of  Evangelism. 

In  the  eighty-five  years  since  the  Home  Mission  Society 
was  organized,  its  missionaries  alone  have  baptized  more  than 
300,000  people,  i.  e.,  one-fifth  of  all  who  have  been  baptized  in 
all  our  churches  during  the  whole  century  in  the  entire  country 
west  of  the  Ohio.  In  that  country  one  million  seven  hundred 
thousand  people  (1,774,287)  have  been  lifted  in  the  resurrec- 
tion emblem  of  enlistment  under  the  banner  of  our  Lord. 

III.    A  Sheaf  of  Consecrated  Resources 

The  hundred  years  of  Home  Missions  has  yielded  vastly 
more  than  hundredfold  harvest  of  consecrated  Eesources. 

Eecords  such  as  exist  indicate  that  in  the  West  which 
Peck  opened  up  denominationally  and  in  the  newer  West  be- 
yond his  farthest  West,  our  churches  have  contributed  to  church 
support  and  benevolent  objects  not  less  than  seventy-five  mil- 
lion dollars. 

A  significant  feature  of  the  benevolence  generated  by  home 
missions  is  the  fact  that  tlie  Baptist  churches  on  the  western 
slope  of  the  continent  give  to  missions  at  home  and  abroad  more 
than  tAvice  as  much  per  member  as  the  eastern  churches.  This 
is  done,  too,  at  a  time  when  they  have  to  be  creating  roads, 
schools,  and  every  facility  of  modem  life,  and  while  they  are 
paying  large  interest  to  eastern  capital.  Those  churches  were 
created  by  Home  Missions  and  they  are  true  to  the  holy  spirit 
of  their  creator. 

In  the  midland  region  between  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Rockies,  the  actual  giving  per  member  is  about  the  same  as  east 
of  the  Mississippi.  Omitting  a  few  very  large  personal  gifts  in 
the  East,  however,  the  midland  record  would  stand  relatively 
considerably  higher  than  the  eastern  per  member. 

Only  a  fraction  of  what  is  given  by  church  people  appears 
on  the  treasurer's  books.  Unmeasured  streams  of  benevolence 
have  been  refreshing  the  earth.  Our  churches  have  been  irriga- 
Page  120 


tion  channels  transforming  deserts  into  gardens  of  God,  not  only 
in  the  homeland  but  around  the  whole  globe.  The  records  of 
our  Foreign  Mission  Societies  show  $6,861,174.36  from  churches 
and  individuals  west  of  the  Ohio  River.  Apparent  omissions 
in  the  records  and  well-known  items  which  did  not  pass  thru 
the  societies'  treasuries  make  it  clear  that  our  western  Baptist 


churches  have  contributed  more  than  seven  million  dollars  to 
foreign  missions. 

The  geographical  center  of  foreign  mission  giving  at  the 
present  time  is  a  little  west  of  the  geographical  center  of  mcni- 

Page  121 


bership.  The  latter,  as  we  saw,  is  in  western  Ohio,  while  the 
former  is  at  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana.  The  geographical  center  of 
home  mission  giving  and  the  geographical  center  of  all  benevo- 
lences combined  are  both  near  Defiance,  Ohio. 

But  the  harvest  of  Eesources  is  not  mechanical,  it  is  vitaliz- 
ing.   It  is  the  seed-corn  of  the  kingdom. 

In  order  to  express  the  spirit  of  benevolence  and  make  it 
effective,  our  home  mission  churches  have  organized  themselves 
by  States  and  districts  so  that  we  now  have  in  the  West  328 
Associations  and  24  State  Conventions.  Few  of  the  Associa- 
tions, not  one  of  the  Conventions,  existed  when  Peck  began  his 
work.  These  organisms  of  good-will  stand  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  on  earth.  They  powerfully  tend  to  make  it  a  reality. 
They  are  incarnations  of  the  prayer,  "Thy  kingdom  come,  Thy 
will  be  done" — not  Thy  will  ,be  endured,  but  Thy  will  be 
achieved. 

Still  larger  incarnations  of  that  prayer  are  the  American 
Baptist  Home  Mission  Society  and  the  women's  home  and  for- 
eign mission  societies  of  the  West.  Peck  was  diligent  in  organiz- 
ing "female  mite  societies."  These  mite  societies  became 
mighty  societies.  He  organized  also  Bible  societies  far  and 
wide.  Put  that  with  his  publishing  of  books  and  of  the  first 
Baptist  periodical  in  a  region  where  there  are  now  twenty-one — 
no  wonder  that  late  in  life  he  became  for  three  years  the  Gen- 
eral Secretary  of  the  iVmerican  Baptist  Publication  Society. 
But  his  chief  contribution  to  the  organic  life  of  the  denomina- 
tion was  by  inspiring  the  plan  and  in  cooperation  with  Jonathan 
Going  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  actually  drawing  up  the  plan  which 
created  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society.  That  in 
turn  has  been  the  fostering  mother  of  the  organic  life  of  the 
denomination  in  the  West. 

Greater  than  all  the  millions  of  dollars — more  than  twenty 
millions — which  the  Home  Mission  Society  has  poured  into  the 
church  life  of  the  West,  has  been  its  service  in  mobilizing  and 
marchalling  the  forces  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  the  immense 
country  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Golden  Gate. 
Page  122 


IV.     A  Sheaf  of  Ministry  to  Humanity 

The  hundred  years  of  Home  Missions  have  yielded  a  hun- 
dredfold harvest  of  personal  ministration  to  human  welfare. 

Infinitely  more  vital  than  the  numbers  enlisted  and  the 
benevolence  recorded  has  been  the  personality  devoted.  One  of 
the  most  impressive  utterances  in  our  history  was  made  years 
ago  by  the  distinguished  Cleveland  layman,  Mr.  John  D.  Eocke- 
feller,  at  the  dedication  of  a  building  which  he  had  contributed 
to  one  of  the  ministerial  training  schools  of  the  denomination. 
He  said  that  his  part  in  giving  money  was  as  nothing  compared 
with  the  lives  which  were  being  laid  on  that  altar. 

I  have  tried  to  get  together  a  list  of  the  members  of  our 
churches  in  the  West  who  have  rendered  eminent  service  in 
making  the  nation  what  it  is,  our  ministers  to  humanity — not 
only  the  preaching  ministers,  but  equally  the  ministers  in  other 
lines  of  great  constructive  service — judges  in  the  courts  of  jus- 
tice, legislators  in  the  States  and  in  the  nation,  administrators 
in  cities,  commanders  of  armies,  educators  in  schools  and  col- 
leges, writers  of  books  and  editors  of  periodicals,  captains  in 
industrial  development  and  organization,  including  the  organiza- 
tion of  labor,  leaders  in  the  fundamental  business  of  agricul- 
ture, great  railroad  men  and  tradesmen,  distributors  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  and  the  necessities  of  modern  life.  It  has 
been  impossible  to  get  sufficient  returns  to  tabulate.  But  the 
statements,  only  fragmentary,  which  have  come  in  from  the 
22  States  west  of  the  Ohio  River  show  an  array  of  names  to 
make  every  Baptist  heart  throb  with  gratitude  to  God  for  what 
he  has  called  and  empowered  our  fathers  and  brethren  to  do  in 
building  commonwealths,  the  nation  and  the  whole  republic  of 
God.  A  Baptist  minister  was  the  pastor  of  the  first  church  of 
any  kind  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.  He  bore  the  common- 
folks  name  John  Smith.  But  his  services  in  the  common  weal 
were  so  distinctive  that  his  fellow-pioneers  made  him  a  member 
of  the  convention  to  draft  a  constitution  for  the  State  of  Ohio. 

Page  123 


The  new  commonwealth  sent  him  as  one  of  its  first  senators  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

Dr.  A.  L.  Vail  has  lately  unearthed  for  us  the  fact,  making 
it  incontestable  on  the  highest  type  of  evidence,  that  John  M. 
Peck  did  more  than  any  other  one  man  in  preventing  Illinois 
from  becoming  a  slave  State  and  so  in  turning  the  whole  tide  of 
American  history.  What  would  God  have  to  say  in  the  Day  of 
Judgment  if  that  Baptist  missionary  had  neglected  to  form  the 
political  leagues  thru  Illinois  which  eliminated  the  slavery 
plank  from  that  State — the  State  which  was  afterward  to  fur- 
nish Abraham  Lincoln,  a  Baptist  mother's  son,  to  complete  the 
work  for  the  whole  nation? 

If  it  were  possible  to  make  a  list  of  eminent  public  servants 
of  all  kinds  and  to  print  it  in  letters  dusted  with  gold,  everyone 
knows  that  still  other  and  immeasurably  larger  lists  of  the 
obscure  members  of  our  churches  who  have  spent  their  lives  in 
personal  devotion  to  the  highest  ideals  ought  to  be  made  and 
printed  with  dust  of  diamonds. 

In  one  of  the  many  lines  of  large  ministry  it  is  possible  to 
make  a  fairly  complete  list,  that  of  the  men  and  women  who 
have  been  raised  up  and  sent  abroad  in  the  last  hundred  years 
by  the  churches  west  of  the  Ohio  Eiver — the  missionaries  to 
foreign  lands.  The  records  at  the  Missionary  Rooms  in  Boston 
show  400  of  them — "the  four  hundred."  That  is,  about  one- 
fourth  of  all  who  have  been  sent  during  the  century.  The  ratio 
of  course  is  increasing.  In  the  last  25  years  more  than  one- 
third  of  all  who  have  gone  have  gone  from  the  West.  Four  hun- 
dred foreign  missionaries  out  of  our  churches  in  the  West, 
backed  up  by  seven  million  dollars  for  foreign  missions  out  of 
the  same  churches,  make  one  thing  certain :  Wlien  the  Triennial 
Convention  one  hundred  years  ago  today  sent  John  M.  Peck  to 
be  the  pioneer  home  missionary,  it  did  the  most  essential  thing 
that  it  could  do  toward  the  redemption  of  other  continents  as 
well  as  of  our  own.  It  was  the  home  mission  experience  of  his 
father  which  fired  the  young  heart  of  Adoniram  Judson.  It 
was  the  Massachusetts  Baptist  home  missionary  society  which 

Page  124 


prepared  the  way  for  the  American  Baptist  foreign  mission 
society.  It  is  in  the  western  churches  which  have  been  them- 
selves created  by  the  home  mission  spirit,  that  the  missionary 
spirit  ought  to  abound.  For  eighty-five  of  the  hundred  years  we 
have  had  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society,  and  it 
has  explicitly  required  the  churches  which  it  fosters  to  give 
themselves  to  foreign  missions. 

Such  has  been  the  ministry  of  the  West  to  the  Far  East. 
There  are  no  available  records  of  its  ministry  to  the  near  East, 
That  also  has  been  very  great.  Ten  years  ago  in  a  Massachusetts 
city  of  over  one  hundred  thousand  population,  having  many 
strong  evangelical  churches,  most  of  the  pastors  were  from  the 
West.  The  like  is  true  in  many  an  eastern  city  and  in  not  a  few 
country  places,  to  say  nothing  of  eastern  college  and  seminary 
faculties.  As  to  ministerial  students,  Newton,  Crozer,  Colgate 
and  Eoehester  in  the  last  ten  years  have  drawn  nearly  four  hun- 
dred (396)  of  their  students  from  the  West,  in  some  cases  more 
than  half  of  their  total  enrollment.  In  some  of  the  eastern 
theological  seminaries  the  chief  source  of  students  has  been  the 
West. 

The  first  full  centur}'  of  Home  Missions  conducted  by  our 
whole  denomination  will  ever  be  memorable  because  of  the 
splendid  personalities  developed  and  devoted.  To  the  end  of 
time  no  century  of  endeavor  can  be  forgotten  which  has  been 
initiated  and  climaxed  by  the  holy  ministry  of  two  such  men  as 
John  M.  Peck  and  Henry  L.  Morehouse. 

In  the  direct  service  of  Home  Missions  seventy-eight  of 
the  one  hundred  years  have  been  filled  with  the  ministry  of 
these  two  transcendent  personalities. 

Eaces  benefited,  souls  enlisted,  means  consecrated,  social 
service  rendered — let  these  four  sheaves,  tho  so  inadequately 
bound  and  shocked,  stand  as  emblems  of  the  immeasurable  Har- 
vests of  a  Hundred  Years. 

We  have  taken  a  few  minutes  to  glance  at  the  past,  not  for 
the  pleasure  of  the  vision  of  glorious  deeds  nor  even  mainly  out 
of  loving  gratitude  for  our  inheritance,  but  chiefly  that  we 

Page  125 


might  plunge  into  the  future  with  reinforced  courage  and  rein- 
vigorated  wills.  Three  things  are  vital  if  we  are  to  build 
worthily  on  the  foundations  which  have  been  laid — Intensive 
Cultivation,  Eager  Cooperation  and  Divine  Thrust. 

1.  Intensive  Cultivation 

The  State  Administrators  in  ten  of  the  western  States  have 
recently  written  me  concerning  277  fields  in  which  there  is  no 
other  church  but  ours.  Let  the  Home  Mission  forces  select  some 
fields  in  each  State  to  serve  like  model  farms  in  government 
agriculture.  Let  us  pour  into  these  places  skill — the  highest, 
divinest  skill  available — and  give  them  the  equipment,  every- 
thing essential  to  the  best  spiritual  tillage.  Let  us  make  these 
chosen  spots  so  fertile,  blooming  and  fragrant  that  they  will 
attract  imitators  over  a  wide  area.  If  we  could  make  one  little 
town  or  countryside  all  that  it  ought  to  be,  it  would  do  more 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth  at  large  than  could  be  done 
by  no  end  of  scattered,  feeble,  semi-futile  undertakings.  When 
the  Indian  natives  of  this  country  wanted  better  crops  they 
moved  to  a  new  spot.  Former  generations  of  white  men  have 
done  much  the  same,  running  ever  to  new  fields.  That  is  the 
savage  and  the  semi-civilized  way  of  doing.  But  the  hour  has 
come  for  culture,  the  increase  of  productiveness,  not  by  racing 
for  fresh  fields,  but  by  intensive  cultivation  of  the  fields  of  our 
fathers.  This  is  true  in  city  as  well  as  country.  At  the 
metropolis  of  the  nation,  for  example,  in  a  single  group  of 
contiguous  blocks  there  are  60,000  people  without  a  single 
evangelical  church;  in  another  destitute  area  more  than  100,000 
people  live.  Let  strategic  points  in  all  the  States  of  the  Union, 
both  city  and  country,  be  selected  and  all  the  force  of  the  de- 
nomination brought  to  bear  in  making  them  radiating  centers 
of  divine  community  life  and  of  wide  spiritual  contagion. 

2.  Eager  Cooperation 

Closer  cooperation  with  ourselves  is  the  brilliant  develop- 
ment of  the  hour — the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society 
Page  126 


with  tlie  Woman's  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society, 
the  Home  Mission  Society  with  the  Publication  Society,  the 
Home  Mission  Society  with  State  Conventions,  all  moving  as 
one  force,  and  having,  if  not  complete  organic  union,  at  least 
firmly  interlocking  directorates.  There  is  no  brighter  page  in 
American  church  history  than  the  page  which  records  the  com- 
ing of  Baptists  and  Free  Baptists  into  intimately  close  coopera- 
tive union. 

Cooperation  with  all  evangelical  forces  is  the  habit  of  the 
denomination.  The  destitution  is  too  great  and  the  future 
developments  are  too  immense  to  permit  the  waste  of  a  single 
ounce  of  energy  in  competition  with  any  people  of  God  who 
proclaim  the  gospel  with  unmistakable  clearness. 

We  may  well  imbibe  the  spirit  of  John  M.  Peck,  the  rug- 
gedest  of  Baptists,  when  he  formed  the  first  religious  and  phil- 
.anthropic  organization  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  making  it 
an  interdenominational  society  "to  aid  in  spreading  the  gospel 
and  in  promoting  common  schools  in  the  western  part  of 
America." 

The  immense  tasks  of  Home  Missions  are  in  the  future. 
Competent  students  of  population  possibilities  and  tendencies 
figure  that,  when  all  the  available  soil  and  water  for  irrigation 
are  in  use,  eight  times  the  present  population  can  be  sustained 
by  the  country  east  of  the  Missouri  River,  and  twenty  times  the 
present  population  in  the  first  tier  of  States  west  of  that  river, 
while  twenty-eight  times  the  present  population  can  be  sus- 
tained by  the  real  West  which  lies  beyond  that.  Methods  of 
agriculture  now  known,  therefore,  would  sustain  one  billion 
people  in  continental  United  States.  There  are  good  reasons 
for  expecting  that  this  one  thousand  million  population  will 
occupy  our  country  no  further  in  the  future  from  this  hour 
than  we  are  tonight  past  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  on  Ply- 
mouth Rock.  The  Home  Mission  enterprise  has  barely  begun; 
its  great  undertakings  lie  before  us.  The  issue  can  be  glorious 
and  adequate  only  if  the  forces  are  all  mobilized.  Whatever  the 
allies  may  have  done  in  the  past,  in  the  future  the  wickedest 

Page  127 


thing  in  God's  world  would  be  for  the  allies  to  contend  against 
each  other. 

The  alliance  of  our  country  with  many  other  nations  to- 
day does  not  diminish  our  Americanism.  It  is  rather  intensified 
as  it  never  was  before.  The  same  is  true  of  Baptist  cooperation 
with  other  denominations.  There  never  was  a  time  when  we 
felt  called  upon  so  imperatively  as  now  to  insist  that  religion  is 
a  matter  of  personal  loyalty  to  God.  No  phase  of  it  can  be  per- 
formed by  proxy.  Eeligion  is  altogether  an  affair  of  personality 
and  not  of  ceremony.  It  is  an  affair  only  of  God-begotten  per- 
sonality and  not  of  man-made  formularies  of  any  kind,  ritual, 
intellectual  or  ecclesiastical. 

Our  brethren  of  other  names  need  the  contribution  which 
alliance  with  us  brings  to  the  common  cause.  Some  of  them 
need  it  desperately. 

3.     Divine  Thrust 

When  our  Lord  commissioned  the  twelve,  and  a  year  later 
the  seventy,  he  taught  them  to  plead  for  divine  thrust  in  the 
work — ^Tray  the  Lord  that  he  send  forth"  Adequate  inten- 
siveness  in  cultivation  and  eagerness  in  cooperation  are  possible 
only  if  there  be  superhuman  spirit  in  the  undertaking.  Work- 
ers with  all  there  is  in  them  must  be  at  work,  not  for  their  own 
sakes  but  for  Christ's  sake  and  the  sake  of  humanity. 

Too  many  men  have  crawled  into  place  on  their  own 
stomachs,  instead  of  being  thrust  into  work  by  the  omnipotent 
Spirit.  We  must  pray  that  men  be  thrust  into  work  instead  of 
seeking  situations.  At  the  anniversaries  years  ago,  a  leader 
said  that  too  many  men  in  his  part  of  the  country  were  looking 
for  situations  with  emphasis  on  the  sit.  In  a  Southwestern 
political  convention  a  great  banner  was  stretched  across  the  front 
of  the  hall  having  on  one  end  a  picture  of  a  jack  rabbit  sitting 
on  his  haunches,  with  his  eyes  closed,  fore-paws  drooping,  in 
obvious  sleep.  At  the  other  end  was  the  picture  of  a  jack  rabbit 
stretching  over  the  sod,  evidently  going  at  30  or  40  miles  an 
Page  128 


hour.  Between  the  two  pictures  was  the  legend,  'T^t  is  better 
to  git  up  and  git  than  to  sit  up  and  sit."  The  vernacular  phras- 
ing may  be  pardoned,  because  it  pithily  embodies  one  of  the 
sublime  ideals  of  Christianity.  The  little  word  which  points 
the  climax  of  the  gospel  story  is  the  word  "go."  The  ideal  of 
the  world's  most  popular  religions  next  to  Christianity  is  qui- 
escence. That  is  the  climax  of  the  religions  of  India.  The  final 
command  of  the  holy  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  "go."  A  keen 
feeling  of  commission,  being  divinely  sent,  omnipotently  thrust 
into  the  field,  is  indispensable  in  winning  North  America  for 
Christ. 

The  "go"  of  the  gospel  has  behind  it  the  awful  thrust  of 
Gethsemane  and  Calvary.  Never  before  since  that  day  has  the 
commission  to  Christianize  the  nations  been  underscored  with 
such  terrifice  emphasis  as  at  the  present  hour.  We  know  not, 
we  care  not,  in  what  kind  of  ink  the  first  recorder  of  "the  great 
commission"  dipped  his  pen.  He  had  a  Christ-inspired  largeness 
of  vision.  His  words  today  stand  lurid  along  the  whole  horizon, 
stretching  up  out  of  blood-red  trenches  till  they  reach  flaming 
aeroplanes  in  the  sky.  It  is  nations,  whole  nations,  which  must 
be  discipled.  For  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  it  has  been 
assumed  sufficient  to  get  souls  separately  right.  We  now  see 
that  \he\  must  be  made  right  in  their  relationship — in  all  their 
wide  relationships,  national  and  international.  We  see.  too, 
that  essential  to  all  the  other  relationships  are  economic  rela- 
tionships. Farms  and  factories  are  as  \'ital  as  armies  and  par- 
liaments. The  whole  fabric  and  every  fiber  of  the  nation  must 
be  brought  under  the  spell  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  hour  in  the  world's  history  when  the  chief  contention 
of  Baptists  thru  the  ages,  the  contention  for  liberty  and  de- 
mocracy, is  coming  to  its  own  thruout  the  whole  world,  is  the 
hour  for  us  to  rise  as  never  before  on  the  wings  of  faith  and 
determination.  "Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that 
He  thrust  forth  laborers  into  His  harvest." 

Humanity  is  in  the  very  presence  of  eternity.  No  serious- 
minded  man  doubts  that  today.     Our  Home  Mission  Cause,  our 

Page  129 


whole  denomination,  is  under  the  hush  of  a  great  bereavement. 
Seldom  have  such  great  power  of  thought  and  such  great 
power  of  feeling  been  so  intimately  united  as  the}'  were  in 
Henry  L.  Morehouse — a  great  head  and  a  great  heart  yoked  to- 
gether in  mighty,  life-long  work.  The  embodiment  of  divine 
energy  in  consecrated  personality  has  been  suddenly  translated. 

From  every  worker's  heart  leaps  the  cry:  "My  father,  my 
father,  the  chariots  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof!" 

To  him  more  than  to  any  other  man — more  than  to  any 
other  ten  men — have  been  due  harvests  which  have  been  gar- 
nered from  the  sowing  of  the  pioneers.  Let  me  close  the  record 
by  quoting  what  were  probably  the  last  words  which  he  ever 
wrote  on  the  theme  which  had  enthralled  his  young  manhood 
and  had  absorbed  all  his  ripening  years  to  the  end.  The  precious 
words  are  from  a  long  personal  letter  received  from  him  only  a 
few  days  before  his  death : 

"Impress  upon  our  people  the  importance  of  mak- 
ing this  nation  more  thoroly  Christian.  As  we  are 
striving  to  produce  larger  crops  this  year  for  the 
hungry  millions  of  the  world,  so  our  energies  should 
be  directed  to  greater  activity  in  Christian  undertak- 
ings to  make  America  the  most  potent  power  possible 
for  the  evangelization  of  the  world." 

This  is  our  challenge  for  a  hundred  years  to  come — 
"MAKE  AMERICA  THE  MOST  POTENT  POWER  POS- 
SIBLE FOR  THE  EVANGELIZATION  OF  THE  WORLD." 


Page  ISO 


APPENDIX 

CENTENNIAL    DATA 

1817-1917 

ABcertalned  for  L.  C.  Barnes  by  Arthur  Warren  Smith,  "SpeclalUt  In 
Statistics   and  Research." 

(Small  numerals  refer  to  Notes  beijinning  on  page  ISSJ 

I. — ENTIRE  FIELD 
For  the  whole  territory  now  comprised  in  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention  i: 

Membership 1817 77,406 

1917 1,437,735 

Baptisms    1817 6,229 

1917 82,794 

1817   to   1917 3,251.844* 

Meeting-houses    1817 500 

1917 9,781 

Value  of  Meeting-houses 1817 $450,000 

1917 101,648,937 

Total  Beneficence — 

(a)  1870   to   1916 $125,539,024 

(b)  1816   to   1869 7,817,890 

$133,356,914 » 


II.— WESTERN    FIELD 

For  Northern  Baptist  Convention  Territory  west  of  the  Ohio  River,  1.  e.,  west 
of  Atlantic  States  : 

Baptist  Colleges,  1917 18 

Students  in  Baptist  Colleges,   1917 12,593 

Academies,    1917 8 

Students  in  Baptist  Academies,   1917 1.032 

Baptist  Theological  Seminaries.  1917 5 

Students  in  our  western  Theological   Seminaries.   1917 470 

Students  from  the  West  in  eastern  Seminaries,  1906  to  1916....  396* 

Number  in  faculties  of  Colleges,   1917 732 

Number  in  faculties  of  Academies,   1917 108 

Number  in  faculties  of  Seminaries,   1917 49 

Baptist  Journals,   1917 21 

Foreign  Missionaries 423 ' 

Contributions  for  Foreign  Missions.  1816  to  1916 16,861,174.26" 

Baptisms,   1816  to  1916 1.774.287 


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NOTES 

1.— The  Northern  Baptist  Convention  includes  the  following  States  :  Maine, 
New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  West  Virginia,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Illinois,  Wisconsin.  Minnesota,  Iowa,  North  Dakota.  South  Dakota,  Nebraska, 
Kansas,  Montana,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  Idaho,  Utah,  Nevada,  Arizona,  Washing- 
ton. Oregon,  California,  and  one  half  of  Missouri  and  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

2.— Baptist  statistics  in  all  the  years  even  up  to  the  present,  exhibit  two 
features  to  be  taken  into  account:  (a)  Because  some  churches  and  whole  asso- 
ciations In  reports  present  only  blanks,  we  know  that  there  have  been  bap- 
tisms where  no  numbers  are  given.  (b)  Because  for  other  churches  "last 
year's  report"  Is  recorded  in  place  of  new  data,  we  know  that  sometimes 
more  baptisms  have  occurred  than  the  number  given.  Our  figures,  built  up 
very  carefully  on  a  scientific  basis,  are  conservative  and  indicate  the  lowest 
possible  number  rather  than  the  highest.  While  our  church  clerks  fail  to 
give  complete  data  at  the  present  day,  in  the  early  decades  the  numbers  given 
represented  a  still  smaller  part  of  the  results  obtained.  For  example,  a  state- 
ment was  made  by  Peck  that  he  knew  in  a  certain  region  a  full  thousand 
baptisms  occurred.  Reference  to  the  statistics  for  that  region  and  period 
do  not  give  a  quarter  of  that  number.  It  is  probable  that  in  the  hundred 
years  the  actual  number  of  baptisms  was  not  less  than  four  million.  The 
first  ten  years  saw  76,299  as  against  the  last  ten  just  closing  690,905.  The 
second  decade  had  109.227  against  514,646  for  the  ninth  decade.  It  took 
twelve  years  to  carry  the  yearly  number  above  10,000.  The  third  carried  It 
as  high  as  45,000.  But  a  reaction  held  the  figures  between  15,000  and  30,000 
until  after  the  Civil  War.  Since  then  it  has  steadily  risen  until  the  past  two 
years  present  98,158  and  83,033.  A  few  high  spots  are  suggestive.  In  1842-3, 
85,495  baptisms  occurred,  reflecting  the  revivals  under  Knapp  and  Finney, 
which  made  a  deep  impression  on  Baptist  churches.  Then  the  revival  of 
1858  again  lifted  the  average  which  had  been  running  between  15,000  and 
20,000  to  45,380,  followed  by  the  inertia  created  by  Civil  War  conditions. 
But  1866  saw  a  rise  to  42.397.  After  this  they  steadily  rose  by  annual  In- 
creases with  a  high  point  in  1894  to  73,204. 

3.— This  was  calculated  by  overcoming  peculiar  statistical  difficulties.  Year 
books  gave  money  items  in  different  forms  relatively  reliable  back  to  1870. 
The  period,  1816  to  1869,  the  following  objects  were  figured  from  reports  and 
(rther  sources  by  careful  comparisons  and  in  the  light  of  experience  with  such 
matters :  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  1816  to  1869 ;  Home  Mission 
Society,  1832  to  1869 ;  Publication  Society,  1826  to  1869  ;  State  Conventions 
(mostly  since  1824),  1816  to  1869;  Miscellaneous  (mainly  education),  1816 
to  1869.  Care  was  taken  to  make  the  figures  producing  (b)  conservative,  and 
they  are  perhaps  a  half  million  to  a  million  too  low. 

4.— Students  from  the  West  attendant  at  four  Eastern  Seminaries,  1906 
to  1916:  Crozer,  31;  Newton.  49;  Colgate,  25;  Rochester,  161;  Rochester  Ger- 
man Department,  130 ;  Rochester  total,  291 ;  total,  396.  In  some  cases  this 
was  more  than  50  per  cent,  of  the  entire  enrollment. 

6.— Foreign  missionaries  from  the  West  came  from  the  following  States  : 
Ohio,  71  ;  Indiana,  37  ;  Illinois,  86  ;  Michigan,  55  ;  Wisconsin,  31  ;  Minnesota, 
30 ;  Iowa,  39 ;  Missouri,  12  ;  Kansas,  23  ;  Nebraska,  12  ;  South  Dakota,  4 ; 
North  Dakota,  1  ;  Colorado,  4  ;  Nevada,  1 ;  Washington,  4  ;  Oregon,  5  ;  Cali- 
fornia, 8. 

6.— All  money  given  for  foreign  missions,  i.  e.,  through  the  A.  B.  F.  M.  S. 
for  entire  period  and  through  the  women's  societies  since  1872,  including 
donations,  legacies,  etc.  In  several  years  the  reports  show  probable  omissions 
under  certain  items  and  estimates  in  others.  Therefore  the  aggregate  for  the 
100  years  could  be  safely  stated  as  a  round  seven   million  dollars. 

7.— The  geographical  centers  were  computed  for  the  last  available  full 
year  of  the  churches  and  their  contributions  as  reported  to  the  Associations  and 
to  the  Sfate  Conventions,  as  given  in  the  annuals  of  the  Conventions  for  1916. 
Of  course,  the  amounts  reported  through  associations  represented  a  slightly 
different  fiscal  year  from  those  of  the  general  societies.  But  they  give  us  more 
geographical   detail    which   was   absolutely   requisite   to   the   computation. 

8.— This  attests  the  dominant  strength  of  New  England  Baptists.  They 
were  not  only  numerous,  but  their  home  mission  activity  had  then  planted  the 

Page  ISS 


churches  along  the  Mohawk  Valley  which  pulled  the  center  up  the  Hudson 
and  away  from  the  strong  Baptist  center  of  Philadelphia.  Peck  had  come  out 
of  New  England  and  had  been  stimulated  Into  missionary  zeal  by  forces  which 
emanated  from  the  Massachusetts  missionary   activity. 

9. — The  items  included  under  "total  beneficence"  are  gifts  to  all  benevolent 
objects,  1.  e.,  everything  except  church  support.  So  far  as  financial  center  In 
the  all-inclusive  sense  (both  church  support  and  beneficence)  is  concerned,  a 
computation  would  probably  find  it  in  the  same  region  as  the  other  centers. 
Careful  study  shows  that  both  in  1817  and  1917  the  Baptist  focus  is  generally 
normal ;  that  of  any  category  lying  not  very  far  from  the  membership  center, 
as  appears  by  references  to  the  maps. 

10. — This  geographical  center  of  giving  to  the  Foreign  Mission  Society 
west  of  all  other  centers  and  so  far  west  of  the  church-membership  center, 
shows  the  tremendous  success  of  the  Home  Mission  Society  in  generating  the 
spirit  of  unselfish  service  in  the  fields  which  it  has  developed. 

11.— Sources  of  information  available  were:  (a)  Massachusetts  Baptist 
Missionary  Society  and  (b)  such  other  societies  (which  were  many)  as  were 
dispensing  funds  in  home  missionary  activity.  Gifts  for  one  year  running 
from  early  1816  into  1817  were  included.  All  evidences  of  money  given  for 
home  missions,  directly  and  indirectly,  were  gathered,  reported  gifts  carefully 
analyzed,  and  consistent  estimates  made  so  as  to  allow  for  all  that  wan  given 
for  the  home  missionary  cause  as  it  was  in  1817. 

12. — The  items  included  under  "Home  Beneficence"  are  : 

(a)  Gifts  to  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission   Society. 

(b)  Gifts  to  the  Woman's  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society. 

(c)  Gifts  to  the  American  Baptist  Publication  Society. 

(d)  Gifts  to  the  State  Missions   (inclusive  of  City  Missions). 

(e)  Gifts  to  the  City  Missions  where  not  included  In   (d)    above. 


THE    FUTURE    OF   HOME    MISSIONS 

THE  FIELD  AND  THE  FORCES 
BY  STATES 


PROTESTANT  CHURCH  MEMBERS 
ALL  OTHERS 


*  IS  THIS  COUNTRY  CHRISTIANIZED?' 


fagt   IS4 


